rawakramblings: personal

Yesterday morning, I was looking at the sticker mark in my Quran and wondered, "Why is it taking such a long time for me to finish this? Such a slow-mo. Mr is already finishing his second round,"

And then I told myself, "I'm gonna make sure I khatam this before the little one comes out!,"

There you go - such a random semangat. Semoga semangat berterusan.

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For the past one week or so, I've been lying down on the sofa, while doing some work on my laptop but spending most of my time, watching series. Doc told me to rest and I rested, physically and mentally.

I've completed all three season of Devious Maids..Heeee ;)

I LOVE the series because the ladies are soo hot (eventhough they're maids) and because of the mysterious stories behind every rich family in Beverly Hills.

Somehow, noticed that the westerns make an effort in dressing up, even when they're at home. And then I remembered staying over with an Australian family when I was 12 and they too, take dinner time as a time to sit down with the family, dressed up well, even when its just at home.

They seem to put the effort to look good. And I think that's lacking in a lot of us in Malaysia. It is not our tradition.

We dress nicely to go out but we don't do so at home. At home, we ( or at least me ) are at our sloppiest. I enjoy wearing large tshirts (usually belonging to Mr.) with a pair of loose pants. From dinner time till time to sleep. Mr. wears his sarong or his sweatpants. Oh my, I feel like we both need to make an effort to look good, at least for our partners!

I know they say that when you're comfortable with your partner, you will start being your real self, wearing things that are comfortable, sharing clothes, going to the toilet with the door open. But you know what, there's really nothing wrong with a little bit of effort, right?

Especially referring to us ladies in hijab. We wear hijab modestly, who says that you need to be modest when you're at home? Which is why Arabs, shop for the sexiest lingerie. And when you see the ladies behind the niqab, they're usually very very pretty, with face all make-up, smelling really good, manicured fingernails...even I can sometimes look at them in awe. All for their husbands, masyaAllah, how noble is that.

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I remember having this conversation with a girlfriend of mine who makes it a point to go to the shopping mall every weekend, as a family outing activity. That is the time that they will look for things to buy - the needs and the wants - or just to window shop or just to look at people . To her, its family-bonding & therapy time.

And during that conversation, it also made me realize how I dislike shopping malls. I dislike the time and patience it takes to find a parking. I dislike the distance it takes to go from one place to another. I dislike the disappointment of looking for something and it cannot be found, resulting in going to another mall. I dislike walking for no-purpose, not knowing where to go and what to do next. I dislike the crowd.

It turns out, Mr. seems to feel the same way too.

We did an experiment a few times these past few months - checking how long we can last in a mall.

The longest was 4 hours (which includes a movie). Once we arrived, we will go straight to the particular shop, have a meal, and then we will start asking each other "So, where to next?".

After a couple of "Where to next" we end up with "Jom balik je lah,"

Some may view 'jalan-jalan at the mall' as a relaxing and de-stress time but it is definitely the opposite for me. I can get agitated.

The only shopping mall we LOVE are Subang Parade & Empire Subang :

So close to home
Parking is easy.
Mall is small
... because our little kiosk is there

And we always go straight to the objective and head back right after.

Which also explains why I love online shopping! I am definitely an online shopper. With website like LAZADA, I can get almost everything there. Even pampers! Not just that, I can also compare on the prizes of items from different websites and read reviews. It is also much cheaper than at the store as most of them do not have to pay a high rent for their shops.

Look at this beanbag here that I just bought for ZAAHARA's new office. I did a survey and you can NEVER get it at that price now:

When Aisya was much smaller, I shop for baby products at http://onebabyworld.com or http://mybbstore.com or http://babymanja.com.

For fashion, of course there's Fashion Valet.
(Looking for something similar but JUST FOR KIDS. Any suggestions?)

THIS is also why I BELIEVE that ZAAHARA should operate mainly online. When we first told people about our idea on having an office, many asked us, "Why not boutique?" Because I myself am lazy to visit any of these online shops's boutiques. If I find anything I like, I just click and purchase. And I am sure that there are many many more out there like me. I want to give the solution to other young urban muslims from ALL OVER THE WORLD - to be able purchase lifestyle islamic products from just one website. Just click and go.

So, are you an online or offline shopper?
Create your own user feedback survey

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Last Wednesday, I was all mentally prepared to be separated from Mr for the first time since we got married. I was going to attend my department's teambuilding session during the weekend.

Then on Thursday, the committee members called me up and asked me if Mr is free and would like to join the trip as an official photographer...FOC but with accomodation, meals and transportation all included. Hello?!?! Of course!

So last weekend, we got our 4th free honeymoon, and not even 2 months married! Firstly was 2-nights stay at Hard Rock Penang, right after our reception. Then, a trip to Kelantan for a friend's wedding, which we got free 2 nights stay at a beach house (thanks to Qilah's aunty), and then came the 2 weeks stay in Mekkah & Madinah, including one special night stay at the Abraj tower overlooking the Haraam masjid, and then now free 2 NIGHTS STAY AT GRAND LEXIS PORT DICKSON BAYBEHH! Syukur Alhamdulillah...semoga sentiasa dimurahkan rezeki sebegini.

Grand Lexis Port Dickson is literally GRAND. We got the water chalet unit all to ourselves, which comes with two king size beds and a jacuzzi with some parts of the floor being transparent which to me, is pretty awesome (got me kiddish and excited hihi). Some of my colleagues got the room with their own personal small swimming pool in their room - which is even more awesome!

That was my first team building ever since I started working. We were divided into groups and had to compete each other on the most creative cheer. We also had to perform on the last night there - in which I was surprised to see the bosses making a fool of themselves! Hehehe cool sgt boss boss saya.

Here are some pictures taken by Mr. during the event: