Book Review : Where Rainbow Ends

Synopsis:
From naughty children to rebellious teenagers, Rosie and Alex have stuck by each other through thick and thin. But just as they're discovering the joys of teenage nights on the town and dating disasters, they're separated. Alex's family moves from Dublin to America – and Alex goes with them. For good.

Rosie's lost without her best friend. But on the eve of her departure to join Alex in Boston, Rosie gets news that will change her life forever – and keep her at home in Ireland.

Their magical connection sees them through the ups and downs of each other's lives but neither of them knows whether their friendship can really survive the years and miles – as well as new relationships. And at the back of Rosie's mind is whether they were meant to be more than just good friends all along. Misunderstandings, circumstances and sheer bad luck have kept them out of each others' arms, but when presented with the ultimate opportunity, will they gamble everything – including their friendship – for true love?

Destiny, Alex and Rosie discover, is a funny thing and fate isn't quite done with them yet…

My Review:
Call me silly, emotional or whatever but I have to admit that I had a good cry after reading this book. Let me tell you a secret, I m a fan of friendship turns to lovers stories. My all time favourite movies which related to this is When Harry Met Sally, My Girl and You ve got mail. I really like the idea of falling in love with your male best friend and look what I ve accomplish by getting married with my best friend Pojee, my silly billy. Wuhuuu! Dream do come true eh!
Oppsie, I m suppose to write a review of this novel not on mine. hehehehe. ok ok. Hmmmm...apa nak cakap eh.. BEST GILER!I cant help myself smile and have tears all the same time. The best thing of this book is that- its not entirely wrote in the normal way. It tells you the story through email, chat log, greetings card, letters and some other form of communication. So its like being a stalker reading through people emails, chat log and other personal stuff. You combine all the info and tadaaa you get the whole scenario. Best best best!

Email to Abah & Mama

Askum Abah & Mama,

Hows Spain? Paris...must be soo much fun over there.

Just sending you this email to update you on E-am progress. He is such a wonderful boy. Annoying but cheeky.
Last week we went to sity and azrai new house and E am got to meet his friend, Indah. Indah is soo cute,chubby and loves singing and talking and jumping. E am haluss je. E am had a great time with Indah. Siap boleh ikut tagline aizat and heliza. KASI GEGARRRR! Lepas hari tu, E am pon ikut jugakk...GEGARRRRR....hahhahahah. Bila yan ckp BEREHHH , E am also said BEREHHH. hahhahaah so funny.

When we got back home, E am sure tanya Indaahh? And when we mentioned indah name, he will said GEGARRRR.hahahahha
E am also can say Manggishh when he see manggis van. Ingat apa benda dia ckp but bila dengar betul2, dia ckp manggishhh..

He really loves The Incredibles.Ntah brapa kali dah dok tgk over and over again the movie. Smpai part lawan or part yg nak terkejut dia dah tau. Siap lari jauh2.

Yesterday he ate nasi dagang. Bukan main suka lagii. Pastu makan lakse kelate. Banyak jugak dia makan. Mat kelate rupanya!
hahahaha

Well, thats all for now. Hope both of you enjoy the holiday. You deserve it. Take care.
E am miss tok ma and tok abah.
Bila yan tanya dia , where s tok ma n tok abah?
Dia ckp PARISSHHHH

e am .... e ammm...

Love, Yan

Book Review : West End Girls

Synopsis:
The streets of London are paved with gold . . . allegedly.

They may be twin sisters, but Lizzie and Penny Berry are complete opposites – Penny is blonde, thin and outrageous; Lizzie quiet, thoughtful and, well, definitely not thin. The one trait they do share is a desire to DO something with their lives, and as far as they're concerned, the place to get noticed is London.

Out of the blue they discover they have a grandmother living in Chelsea – and when she has to go into hospital, they find themselves flat-sitting on the King’s Road. But, as they discover, it’s not as easy to become It Girls as they’d imagined, and west end boys aren’t at all like Hugh Grant . . .

My Review:
I love this book for its wonderful twist plot and the character of both twin sisters.
It tells you that sometime what we have dream is probably not the best for us. Penny always thought with money she can buy happiness and how wrong is that. Lizzie who is so shy in her feelings towards man, dont do any good either. At the end of the story, Penny end up with a not so famous painter who lives sub urban with not much money in his pocket. But this guy is full of love for her and makes her smile everyday. Lizzie on the other hand, end up with a millionaire who own a chain of restaurant all over London. For both of them are not physically perfect for each other but they share the same interest which is good food. Yumm !

Break Away

Last year, I said to myself that in 2007, I will travel again to Europe or any 4 season country. As the saying goes ' kita hanya merancang,tuhan menentukan' is definitely true. This year, we have to cut down the budget of travelling due to the new shop. I must say money runs out like water lately and I m being conscious of spending more money for persoanal leisure.

Coincidently, Broadcast/Communic Asia will be held on 19-21 June 2007 at Singapore. For the people who know well enough my dear Pojee, will definitely know his obsession in all sort of camera/editing/related products gadgets. So i guess, it gives us the oppurtanity of goin to Singapore on bussiness trip and for me a breakaway from my daily job.

Been searching for a rooms and it seems I got cheated in the special internet rate on their website. When I called them, they were saying 'sorry, your visit in singapore falls on the communic week and all rate for singapore hotel is sligtly higher'. Whatt??
Most of the hotels rate are at $280-320. Ish..baru nak berangan dok hotel best best kat Singapore. Isk isk what a spoiler.
With that kinda rate, its still fully book. Danggg... Mana nak carik lagi ni? Pojee suggested Hotel 81. Oh no! The last time I was in Hotel 81,Geylang was the most terrifying moment in my life. I just felt sick looking at all the hookers with their 7 eleven service. He remind me of the other branch of Hotel 81 in Bugis which we have pass few times on our way to Bugis Junction. I remember the hotel do look far more decent than the one in Geylang. So I tried to ring that and yes there s still room available on those dates with a $210nett per day. That's like RM450+ and in KL we can even stay in any 5 star hotel. But there's not much option really, so i booked right away.

In another 2 weeks time, I ll be leaving to Singapore and try to breakaway from my work. We decide not to bring E-am as its more like a bussiness affair for me and pojee. I know I will miss him soo much but I dont want to drag him to the expo and make myself and pojee go mad pleasing him. Disneyland is THE perfect destination for the 3 of us. E-am, let mummy make more more money and we can go to Disneyland soon ya.

Mama & Abah is now in Spain and soon be leaving to London in the next few days.
Ola !

Joyride

Phew..what a tough time i had for the past few weeks..I finally getting more stable and comfortable with the new routine of the new shop.Opening a shop is not as simple as setting up a company.All through the years i learn this: To setup a bussiness is easy but to maintain it is a different story.
Retail and production is 2 separate things to do. With no knowledge and a little experience ( use to sell poscard at my parents gallery at CM) , I just go 'belasah' using my basic instinct and of course with guidance from my mentor, my mom. Well, both of us are not graduate in any bussiness school or whatsoever ( me: creative multimedia,mmu while mama: fine metal,itm ) but probably it runs in our blood for having this bussiness minded all the time.
Anyway, Manggis Fotografik is doin great now, alhamdullilah.I thank Allah everyday for the rezeki that I can share with all my other staff. I meet new people especially photographers in the shop. Ex-client coming back to print their wedding photos again or their newborn babies. Everyday is a learning process to me.

The most enjoyable things that I ve done lately is I start reading again. Unbelievable! I cant even remember when was the last time a read a book ( i mean a real story book). On my teenagers years I love reading Sidney sheldon and danielle steel's novels.
When I got into MMU, my type of book change from love novels to art book. Learning how mystic life is when you see visually or in an abstract form. Everything happens for a reason. Forms follow function and all the intelectual stuff. Been a fan of David Carson and Blackwell at that time.
After I graduate, I hardly remember reading any books. Oh dear..poor me! When i start working, nope still not reading anything. All i remember i do read magazine like KLUE, motivation book ( half way), all time favourite pancaindera slot on sunday and loads of wedding magazine. When I got pregnant i did read few books on pregnancy, babies and stuff like that. And when E-am (new name for my Ilham, credit to indah) was born i completely cant read anything except Noddy, Barney, Elmo and some weird creatures story which my son adore.
And now, all of sudden I have the urge of reading a real story book again. I went to Kinokuniya and seek for a book which light, fun and easy reading as i dont want to spoil this mood by reading heavy issues. So i thought it would be nice reading something that relate to my job which is wedding and wedding is associated with LOVE. Yup! I managed to find a romantic comedy novel which of course have a nice and sweet cover ( i do judge a book by its cover..hehehe) . So i bought myself a book West End Girls by Jenny Colgan.

The first attempt reading is kinda hard with e-am by myside. He will be snatch the book and try to distract me from reading. He even leave a stain with his sloppy kiss at the book. I just start reading for a day and the book looks like a second hand book. I even take a time break by having a lunch at Dome Cafe all by myself just to finish up the book. Hip hip horey! West End Girl done! ( will write the book review soon) . Since KLCC is the most convinient place for me to go ( thanks to the elevated highway) I went back again to Kinokuniya to find my next book. Got myself a book by Cecelia Ahern: When Rainbow Ends.

Surprise.Surprise. I finish reading the book in just 3 days.And by the time I finished reading the last chapter, I was crying for almost 10 minutes. Sili me. But I cant help it reading this story which is so hmm how should i say...beautiful and inspiring.( I definately will write the review soon!)
My next book is Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman. Simply bought this book just because I love Paris so much and the fact that mama and abah is in Paris now on their 30th anniversary honeymoon. Grrrr... how I wish the flight ticket is cheaper and the euro is like rupiah.

Anyway, reading again is such a wonderful experience to me. It was once a food for my soul and now it does the same thing again and again.

Cheers.

L.O.V.E

Love... we think about it, sing about it, dream about it, lose sleep worrying about it. When we don't have it, we search for it. When we discover it, we don't know what to do with it. When we have it, we fear losing it. It is the constant source of pleasure and pain. But we can't predict which it will be from one moment to the next. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, impossible to live without.

Hadapi dengan senyuman

Its been really stressful days,weeks,months for me. Tired, exausted and non stop thinking about work, life & family.This song somehow give me some thoughts of being more calm and tawakal.

HADAPI DENGAN SENYUMAN
SEMUA YANG TERJADI
BIAR TERJADI….
HADAPI DENGAN TENANG JIWA
SEMUA... KAN BAIK BAIK SAJA

BILA KETETAPAN TUHAN
SUDAH DITETAPKAN
TETAPLAH SUDAH….
TAK ADA YANG BISA MERUBAH
DAN TAKKAN BISA BERUBAH

REFF
RELAKANLAH SAJA INI
BAHWA SEMUA YANG TERBAIK
TERBAIK UNTUK KITA SEMUA
MENYERAHLAH UNTUK MENANG

Untitled Poem

airmata berlinangan tanpa diminta
bagai tertusuk hatiku meronta-ronta
perjalanan jiwaku tidak semudah disangka
kuatkan iman, teguhkan semangat
mudah-mudahan hari esok bersinar kembali

It's finally out !

click image to enlarge

*the only thing which I feel not right in this write up is the usage word of 'educate' in last paragraph. On the interview I actually said 'to give ideas to photographer'. Maybe it was misinterpret in the write ups . So to whoever felt offended please accept my humble apology. It's something beyond my capacity to approve the write up before its been pulished.

Manggis New Member

Ilham @ 1 year 7 month

This is the boy that melt my heart day and night. Dah lama tak update about this cheeky boy. here are some of the updates:

He loves to play with his toys especially anything with wheels. He loves to take a ride with his motorbike around the house. He also loves to watch tv ( not just cartoon, but action movies and sometime i caught him watching af...).He also loves making friends with people, but i notice that he prefer to be friend with adults than his peer group. He loves music! When we are inside the car, if there's no music he will point at the cd player. He's currently listening to tak tercapai akalmu by elyana. He will do his head bangging and moves his hand up and down ( like a drummer) when he listen to any rock songs.(ni mmg ikut abah dia lah nih).He's still in love with anything that have cheese and prefer western food. (ikut abah lagikk!)
He's now on training brushing his teeth.

Ilhamku selalu dan selamanya...

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

What success means to you?

I ve never been asked about what success means to you until last tuesday on this interview session. It somehow stumble me with certain thoughts of defination of success. I remember meeting a father of a friend who once told me ' When I can purchase a mercedes, i 'm a succesful man'. Well, i do respect his vision but at the same time i find myself asking what actually i want in life. Money? Power? Posessions? Hmm... you need money to survive and power to get what you want. But to what extend of wealth are you looking for. We can never be satisfied with what we have. We always wanting more and more. I imagine myself being in a luxury car with a smart home near klcc. Will i be happy? Hell yes, i will be happy but will i be truly truly happy?

Well, i m telling you this : I will be happy when i can afford to give whats best for my family, raise up my children to be someone that i can be proud of, improoving myself to be a better muslimah and enjoy life with family and friends. That is a success for me.

How about you?
Maybe you can share with me here...

My First Photo Shoot

Wohooo!! I finally made it, my first photoshoot for a magazine. Phewww..kecut perut makcik memikirkan this photo session. Usually I m the one who work behind the scene and this time I'm the subject. Adeh pening...pening..few days memikirkan what to wear(ni problem big time), what sort of smile should i put in , etc etc... But alhamdullilah, all run smoothly . Shockingly in this photo session I'm wearing MNG (tak penah berangan dpt fit in this) tops and accesories. Once the magazine is out , i will update .

What's in the Hercules? Be one of the first 200 to know

We are honoured to be invited by Mr. Wolfgang Schlimme, Managing Director of BMW Malaysia on the new MINI launching at Apac, Subang last night. The campaign for this car 'What's in the Hercules?' was great. The gimmick of the launch also gempak tak hengat. Mini tu turun kot kapal kapalterbang tuh...

Manggis New Venture : MANGGIS FOTOGRAFIK coming soon

Insyallah by Mid April we are opening our second baby which we named as 'MANGGIS FOTOGRAFIK'. It s a Fuji Digital Imaging Photolab + Photo Album Showroom + Frame shop. Its a one stop centre for all photographers who seek for a better solution/products in improoving their presentation. Currently we are in a midst of renovation of the shop. So you can imagine how busy I am in planning and deciding on the renovations material which is very very costly. Because of this new baby we will put on hold for our dream holidays this year. Its a new adventure for manggis team now. Lets hope this second baby will be as success as the first one. Lets not talk to much since its still not open yet. I will be updating the status of this newly shop. Wish me luck guys!

6 weird things about me

Wowiee..ni first time kena tagged!Memang dah lama berangan nak menjawap soalan2 gini.. so here it goes...

1. I loves browsing thru all sorts of magazine & newspaper while i'm doing my 'big' bussiness in the toilet.Sungguhlah nikmatnya...my fav magazine for this purpose is KLUE, suratkhabar pancaindera especially yg slot blakang tuh(kisah rumahtangga org..), paper Star and recently The Edge.

2. Aku suka gentel tissue bila-bila je kalau berkesempatan.Pojee cukup lah marah bila tgk banyak sgt tisu bulat2 bersepah kat meja especially lepas makan.

3. Sebelum tido, i like to gesel2 kaki kat cadar.Rasa sejuk-sejuk and lembut je..pastu akan meneruskan kegiatan tu sampailah tertido...zzzz..tabiat pelik ni memang dah diamalkan sejak kecik lagi

4. Aku ni takleh bawak basikal. Masa kecik dulu, mama ada belikan basikal tapi aku ni asyik takut jatuh. so kesimpulannya lansung takleh nak bwk basikal...huwaaa

5. I can be sometime confident of myself but at certain time i still do have this low self esteem goin on.

6. I love to eat chicken so much that sometimes i think i m weird for loving it too much. I wonder do chicken loves fish too?

Birthday Memories

Birthday ,birthday, birthday ...here we go again ... Those who know me would know how i loves birthday and always up to something on someones birthday.On pojee's 30th birthday i did a surprise thingy at CPK,KLCC.I secretly gather his close friends in MMU to join the party.It was so much fun when you see his expression when the whole restaurant sang to him birthday song(bukan senang nak tgk muka pojee malu2 kambing nih!). On Abah 50th birthday, me and mama did a surprise party for him.Most of siblings, nephew and nieces were there.The special thing about that party was i did a video montage of his photo from his baby time,itm years,married,having a daugther(me!me!),having a son in law and having a grandson with a song 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra. It was a great joy to see him laughing and crying at the same time.Glad that angah/zulkhas capture that moment ( will upload the photos soon).On Ilham's 1st birthday I was all over excited about it. I set a theme of Colourful jungle where i did a jungle deco on the buffet line, we wore animals head gear and invited clown to entertain the children(which it actually scare of the children..o dear..)

I also have some fond memories in celebrating birthday. Abah said that i had my first step on my 1st birthday party back in our house in Kg Baru.On my 9th birthday i had it at my primary school,Marian Convent. It was a big cake that forms number 9 with a concept of fish in a pond.That was the best cake ever!On my 17th birthday , i received 2 goldfish swimming in a bowl from my best friend at that time, simon.It was sweet but though i'm fishie but goldfish is hardly to maintain.The goldfish died after a week and just to 'jaga hati' him i bought a new one to replace them.I end up buying few sets of goldfish as replacement every week. My sweet memories of many birthday surprises is definately on my 21st birthday.That really ate me up.I even had tears and even hug pojee (apahal la aku pegi peluk mamat tu..we were just friend at that time)..Let me recall back the day...It was around 10pm.I was at the lab, chatting on irc.(pathetic life). I got a mssg from who eh(angah or pojee or akdon) askin me to go to e-gallery for a meeting. As i entered the gallery there's no one there and suddenly a group of people singing happy birthday to you....lalalalala...kembang semangkok makcik... that one really surprise me! If i'm not mistaken there were pojee, angah,akdon,sity,azrai,yool and who else eh..whoever who was there, please remind me, so that i can include you in my memory box...And for my 28th birthday yesterday, the whole team in Manggis gave me a surprise party at the pantry.It was so nice of them..They even made yong tau foo at the back of our pantry.Thank you guys! everyone was there except pojee..sigh..but luckily he deliver me this huge bouquet of lilies. ha pandai ponn..Thank you sili! muah muah.

Not to forget thank you soo much to my friends and family for the wishes.I really appreciate it. Love you guys so much!
My wishes are, i hope i will be a better wife,mother and daugther. Have a more prosperous year in my bussiness.And last but not least is I want to go to europe again!get pregnant again?hmm..we wait and see!

Grow old with you

This song is by Adam Sandler in movie Wedding Singer. This movie is one of our(me&pojee) all time favourite movie. I remember we use to watch it again and again.We even did a quiz on each other based on this movie. During that wedding singer fanatic season, pojee did gave me a special song cd which compiles the whole soundtrack. how sweet is that eh..
The thing with this movie is that the title' wedding singer' and how we actually end up being a wedding videographer.heheheheh...so somehow this movie is a very special in our heart ...

Dedicated to my sili, Pojee, Footos, Abah for the love and patience

Happy 3rd Anniversary

A Brand New Day

Today I will celebrate my birthday with a blog.Well as you can see, i actually have created this account since march last year.But i have lost the password and i even cant remember the name of the blog(hampeh btull!) so it been put on hold ever since.So today i'm celebrating my new day as a 28year old woman, wife and a mother with a blog.



I ve been longing to have a blog but somehow i'm scared of expressing myself in this sort of medium. It s as if like i'm allowing people to read my diary ...like what i did reading other blog..(feel like a stalker)
But on second thought i ve not been expressing myself for such a longg time..i use to write poems, paint, take photograph but after my marriage, having ilham(my son) and building up manggis the interest slowly fades away.So i hope this blog is a stepping stone for me to start all over again being a believer of freedom in expression. I remember during my final year , I use to read this book by lewis blackwell talking about 'intercourse of expression'. So adapting to the new digital world, blogging is an 'intercourse of expression' which i translate as PERTEMBUNGAN LUAHAN RASA. So again why not?I have so many things to write, to share and to celebrate the joy of my life..
To whoever that reads this newly blog, welcome and feel free to leave some thoughts here..

enjoy!