Beautiful December

It was really windy when we arrived at Changi Boardwalk and Shaura was very cranky as it was her nap time. But the shoot has to go on. We chose a nice spot at the bridge. Filzah and Raudha was very patient with us. At one point, I almost gave up chasing Shaura. She was running to and fro, almost knocking some of the visitors at the park. Boy, I was glad when it was over!

We took lesser pictures this time as compared to last year's maternity shoot at Botanic Gardens - it's not about the quantity but the quality that matters in the end :)

To Filzah and Raudha, thank you for accommodating this rather last minute request and being there for my family photoshoot for the second time. You're simply the best!

Credits

Photographer: Filzah Abdul Rahim

Assisted By: Raudha Ismail
Photos Edited By: Siti Zalinah

Camera: Nikon D60

Lens: 18-105 and 55-200

It's a boy!

The then 8-month-old Shaura looked like a boy, right?
Expecting Baby No. 2 to look like this!
Good that I can recycle all her boyish accessories and clothes.
Hehehe!

Now that's what I call forward thinking.
Yeah right... :p



Joke aside, here's a smile that makes me happy and sad at the same time. Sigh.

Been spending more time at work than at home. Working mothers, do you feel me? :(

Looking forward to the 4 months maternity leave in Feb.

My New Year resolution: To spend quality time with my babies!

Mat Yoyo: Details will be revealed tomorrow!

Who's the host and who're the cats?

What is the show all about?

When will the show be aired?

Want to know?

More will be revealed tomorrow!

By the way, didn't I tell you that Shaura loves cats?

She adores them like they're some huggable teddies ;p

Love will keep us alive

Some say having a child will ruin your career or relationship with your spouse. Rubbish! No teacher or parent I knew would ever have talked to us about the joy of being parents, the amount of love and laughter it brings into our lives, together with its sense of purpose and meaning. 

From changing diapers to feeding my lil' munchkin, I now know my husband makes a great father and I'm extremely thankful for his thoughtfulness and help rendered with daily chores, no matter how small it can be. My husband will even ensure that we are colour-coordinated when it comes to family outings - he's really good at mix-matching our clothes. The best part, we are still very much in love as a couple.

My joy comes from freezing those moments as a family and looking back at the photos with great pride. I can't imagine living without a camera to document these memories. The day will come when I'm old and frail but I hope my memory doesn't fail me.

I love you, my honey bunnies.
You mean so much to me.

Stylish hijabs and ready wear collection at newly launched blog shop, Bulletproof Lilies

Introducing a new online outlet to shop: BULLETPROOF LILIES!

Remember Indriana from PINK ELEPHANT LABS? Well, she's the woman behind the newly launched blog shop. And yes, my graduation shot (below) was taken by the talented Nana.

I call it diversification - from photography to selling of clothes and hijabs online - something which I would love to do (if not for the stable, full-time job and strings of other responsibilities). Here's Nana's first collection of hijabs, feel free to scroll down.

And my favourite...Heather Blue :)

See something you like? Click here http://bulletprooflilies.wordpress.com or email to bulletprooflilies@gmail.com to place your order!

To those who're not wearing a hijab, it's ok cos Bulletproof Lilies has ready wear collection as well.

Shop sensibly! I know how it is like to keep on ordering things that we don't actually need. Hehe.

Suria's exclusive 2012 calendars are now on sale!

Look around your work or study area. What did you notice? A calendar to organize your day, weeks and even months. A calendar to scribble your birthday week and loved ones, exams, anniversaries and movie dates. A calendar is the best example that has made a special place in our surrounding. Can you imagine a single day without them? Yes, we can now afford smartphones to organize our meetings, but nothing beats the physical calendar to mark your special day!

Suria is having a special promotion to all Suria viewers! You can now purchase an exclusive calendar with pictures of your favourite artistes. Join our roadshow next week at U-Home Interior Design (Paya Lebar Branch) where you can have your calendar autographed by Erwin Shah Dawson, Fadhlur Rahman, Haizad Imran (okay, I can hear you ladies screaming already), Rahayu Ridwan and Syirah Jusni.

Now, that's what I call, extra special ;)

Mark your calendar and make a date with us next week!

Date: Sunday, 13 November 2011
Time: 2-5pm
Venue: U-Home Interior Design
73, Upper Paya Lebar Road,
#01-01 Centro Bianco Building,
Singapore 534818
Price: $15 per calendar (inclusive of GST)
Online Booking: http://xinmsn.com/suria
Artistes Featured:
• Nurul Aini
• Fauzie Laily
• Huda Ali
• Sarah Aqilah
• Erwin Shah Dawson
• Rahayu Ridwan
• SleeQ
• Haizad Imran
• Fadhlur Rahman

See you there!

Remy & Jin Hee

It's Korean night - Remy & Jin Hee tonight on Suria! ;)

Premiering 31 October 2011, every Monday at 9.30pm

Genre: Local Drama (Singapore)
TX Day/Time: Mondays, 9.30pm
TX Date: 31 October – 19 December 2011
No. of Episode: 8 x 60mins
Produced By: Oak3 Films

Casts
Fauzie Laily as Remy
YeokYeong Yoon (Yunie) as Jin Hee
Azzah Fariha as Nora
Erwin Shah Dawson as Eddy
Shane Mardjuki as Rezal
Mastura Ahmad as Munah
Zaidi Ibrahim as Osman
Jeff Catz as Lee Woon
Jeff Moon SungHo as KC

Synopsis

Episode 1: Escape from Seoul

JIN HEE, who has amassed herself huge credit card debts, decides to take over the place of her best friend KC – a Seoul University student who is going for an exchange programme to National University of Singapore. She steals his identity, then flees to Singapore. In Singapore, she resides with this quirky Malay family and is classmate to REMY. She has to carefully disguise herself and her identity so that no one knows better. KC soon discovers Remy having a crash on varsity belle, NORA. KC then tries to help Remy get a date with Nora by getting to know the university belle herself. The school jock Eddy however, gets wind of it and gets extremely jealous. Meanwhile, whilst the family is excited over the fact that the Korean guy KC is staying with them, the mother Munah feels underappreciated by the family when they complain about her cooking. She goes on strike, and the family realizes how important her contribution to the family is.

Watch trailers:

Dinner at Sedap Corner

There are a couple of my favourite eateries at Simpang Bedok and one of them is Sedap Corner. The only downside is that you have to wait for at least 25 mins to half an hour for the food to arrive, a no-no if you're the impatient type. But this is what 'slow food' is all about - the people at Sedap Corner really take their time to meticulously prepare their dishes to perfection. And the owner is non other than the famous Chef Bob who has appeared in many of Suria's cooking programmes like Chef Bob Asli & Makan Boomz.

And of course, to really enjoy my slow food, I make sure that Shaura is preoccupied with her interactive teddy (seen above) and her favourite biscuit snack.

My order: Mee Goreng Mamak

Aiman's favourites: Susu lemak manis & (black)berry juice

Loving this pic. Shaura looks super cheeky here.

Raudaa's favourite: Durian Toast

Fazlan's favourite: Vietnam beef noodles

Last but not least, Shaura's favourite past time when we're out: Chasing after cats!

And she'll make sure that she gets to touch them!

So where is this Sedap Corner?

Sedap Corner

282 Bedok Road Singapore 469438
For reservations, please call: +65 6445 9987

Deepavali at the Museum

This Deepavali, the museums are opened for FREE!

Bring your family with you!

National Museum of Singapore

93 Stamford Singapore 178897

10am - 6pm

Asian Civilisations Museum

1 Empress Place Singapore 179555

9am - 7pm

Singapore Art Museum

17 Bras Basah Singapore 189555

1pm - 5pm

Peranakan Museum

39 Armenian Street Singapore 17994

Catty News!

Coming Soon

Popular children's programme,

MAT YOYO, 

in Jan 2012!

 Yes, you heard it right. Your favourite Yoyo and Yaya cats are back on

4 MediaCorp channels and in 4 different languages.
More will be revealed soon!

That said,

do you remember the two kittens that were found dead on

8 October 2011 at Marsiling Crescent?

I'm not posting the pictures here as it's too gory!

Do you know that animal cruelty is a crime?

In Singapore, under the Animals and Birds Act, anyone who is found guilty of such an offence including abandonment of any animal, can be imprisoned for up to 12 months, fined up to $10,000, or both.

The SPCA is appealing for witnesses and
has increased the reward to

SGD $1,300

Read more here
and remember to do your part and spread the word!

Swimming Good Times!

Shaura loves water so it's just natural when we first introduce her to swim, doing simple kicks in her buoy. She loves it! But it's been a long time since we had a swinging swimming good times! The first post on Shaura's swimming lesson was posted here back in Dec 2010. At 16 months, Shaura has definitely outgrown her bumble bee swimsuit. Thank god for the suit which Kakak gave on Shaura's birthday, it fits her albeit tight-fitting. Sigh. It's true, baby does grow very fast!

 Seen above, Fazlan's blowing air into the buoy. Blow, wind, blow!

We lost Shaura's coconut tree buoy (picture above) and had to buy a new one - a red patrol car meant to be recycled for Shaura's baby brother. Hehehe.

The best part about swimming - we get to meet Hani Natasya, the proud owner of Kiki, the cat. Shaura loves Kiki, you can tell from the way she holds him dearly, just like hugging her favourite teddy bear.

This picture says it all. Shaura's supper happy just to be near Kiki.

And of course, Shaura is even happier when she's in the pool.

Hubby and I are thinking of enrolling Shaura for a proper swimming lesson when she turns 2. The difficult part - to coax her out of the pool after every session. She'll definitely kick up a big fuss :/

True encapsulation of "Daddy's Girl"

This Thai commercial really brought tears to my eyes. Actually most Thai commercials are good at making me cry, it's an Art that the Thais are exceptionally gifted at - from the technicalities (directing, cinematography, acting) to the storyline that touch a million hearts.

But this commercial is extra special....

Cos' it reminds me of them.



Trust me, a father's love is as powerful as a mother's love.

A Lost Art

I love handwritten letters and postcards with stamps. It's just something "old school" about them that made my day.  So nice of Kakak to send this all the way from Cuba.


It reads:

It's sad that writing personal letters by hand to family and friends is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Maybe it's time for me to start penning letters and notes to my loved ones.

Let's start with something less ambitious, shall we?

Here's a post-it to my dearest husband:

Introducing Maths

My husband is better at Maths than I am. I'm not really interested in the subject until I had Shaura - strange, how motherhood has changed me. I started using flashcards when Shaura was still a newborn (even though the great Einstein never believed in using this method)

....and we gradually progressed from finger-counting which has proven to be more meaningful than flashing a bunch of "meaningless" cards to singing nursery rhyme "10 Little Indians" as I realized Shaura learns better through songs. Will try to post updates about her development on fractions next. Till the next entry!

Raya was awesome!