Day 20 of Housemanship

Assalamualaikum!!

Sorry for abandoning this blog. Life is super hectic right now since I've started housemanship. I'm guessing all those engagement posts will have to wait - not guaranteed when I'll be able to continue it.
I'm currently in Medical posting. Yup, if you're in the medical field, you'd know it's the killer posting in every hospital - and as luck has it, I got it as my very first posting. Lucky me yay!! Not =,(

I have an old MRSM friend here in the same hospital so before getting in, I've asked him for few pointers. He's been very helpful. Siap belanja buat nametag and name stamp ok. Best thing is he's very different now, in a good way. Very matured and charismatic, which is very different from the guy I know in MRSM. I've known him since 13y.o and he's extremely shy. He can't talk to girls without turning red all over his face and ears but now, he's confident. I guess tons of responsibility helps you to grow. Hopefully becoming a doctor helps me to be a better person too.

More story later when I have the time okay. I gotta go study. Will have to start oncall soon, probably next week. Yikes!! Must know how to handle emergency cases all by myself because I'll be the only houseman in the ward during oncall ={

Engagement Post #7: Hantaran

Assalamualaikum!

OK, I've finally finished blogging about my engagement decorations, now I'm moving on to the hantaran (gifts). No worries, this will be finished in one post.

So, our parents agreed on 5 gifts for the girl (i.e; me) & 7 gifts for him. In Malay tradition, the hantaran is always in odd number & the guy will get more than the girl. For example, 5 for 7 like ours or 7 for 9 (we also agreed on that number for the wedding next year insyaAllah). Also, usually, for an engagement, the hantaran is usually manisan (sweet edible stuff like cakes, fruits etc.) so, I gave Zuhair 1 sirih junjung, 1 bunga rampai & 5 yummy stuff.

I decorated the hantaran by myself with some help from my aunts & cousins, using of course, crepe paper flowers, a few plastic flowers, ribbon & name card.

Sirih junjung. My cousins' wives helped me with this. I just wanted a simple arrangement but the aunts complained of it being too small & not pretty. So I passed this over to my cousins, Kak Liza & Kak Aida. Teehee!

Sirih junjung is actually a pretty arrangement of betel leaves. A must have item for hantaran in Malay tradition, it symbolizes humbleness & respect. In the olden days, girls who finds it difficult to find life partner were advised to chew the betel leaves that were used as hantaran to get blessing or in Malay words, untuk ambik berkat. But you know, that is culture & tradition. In Islam, we believe that who we're going to be married to is pre-destined since before we're born so don't worry girls! No need to chew on the betel leaves. I don't think they taste that good =/ 

You can use it on your skin. Good for those who has itchy insect bites or sensitive skin. When I was a kid, my grandma will go pluck the leaves, mix them with water & shower me with it. Tapi dah besar ni menggatal jugak... Geddit? Itchy skin? Gatal? OK, not that funny...

Bunga rampai. My mum, Mak Lang & Nurul helped to slice the pandan leaves & Mak Ngah gave me some flowers from her garden. Picture by Zawa.

Bunga rampai is a mixture of super thinly sliced (meracik in Malay but I don't know the term in English) fragrant pandan leaves with bold coloured flowers. It smells nice, thanks to the pandans. Bunga rampai symbolizes dignity, gentleness, kindness, and peace (obviously Googled), so when we gave this to someone, it means we're wishing the person all that.

Chocolate brownies from Secret Recipe. Hooray!! ;)

I initially bought a White Chocolate Macadamia cake as the hantaran because that is one of my favourite flavour but I kinda forgot that we're having the engagement at my grandparents' house so no air conditioning whatsoever. When I got home from the bakery, I tried putting the cake in a see-through box (because I want people to be able to see the cake instead of keeping it hidden in the original box) & to my horror, it melts!! I panicked for a bit. Pretty stressed too because replacing the cake will means I'm going to exceed the budget for hantaran. In the end, I decided to buy brownies as replacement because they're more heat tolerant. I blame myself for not asking the staff which cake is better for a warmer venue. I hope you can learn from my pricey mistake.

Blueberry cheese tarts sponsored by Mak Teh. Looks so yummy I'm drooling, no kidding.

A few weeks before my engagement was my cousin's Noni wedding day. One of the hantaran from her side was this. Mak Teh also ordered extra blueberry cheese tarts for us to eat & I fell in love with them from the very first bite. So she offered to sponsor these babies as my engagement hantaran & again, she also bought extra for us to eat too. So sweet isn't she?

The blueberry cheese tarts actually came in the white box that I put the brownies in (see brownies picture above) but since the brownies was too small it looks funny inside the big see-through box, I switched boxes.

Fruits basket. Mak Lang & Mak Teh helped me with the decor idea.

Assorted cookies made by Imran. I'm hooked on the coffee butterscotch cookies. Ordered another for me to noms all by myself. Zuhair loves them too. I even made another few orders so I can bring them with me to Kuala Pilah.

Assorted chocolates. I'm loving the gold coin chocs. It's a classic & makes your hantaran looks like a treasure chest hihi. Pictures by Zawa.

Here's what Zuhair gave me (all pictures by Zawa);

A pretty carriage for my engagement ring. So cute right! By the time this picture was taken, the ring is already on my fingers ;) Ring picture here.

 His sirih junjung was more extravagant than mine. His was complete with gambir/pinang (I don't know honestly). Mine was just the betel leaves with some flowers hihi.

Fruits basket 

Chocolate bouquet 

More chocolates for me!

His mum made & decorated the hantaran from his side. I shared the foods with my relatives & we're very blessed to have 2 cakes (remember the melted cake earlier?) so my family can serve everyone who has helped with my engagement. See? Instant silver lining ;)

Engagement post #1
Engagement post #2
Engagement post #3
Engagement post #4
Engagement post #5
Engagement post #6

Cesky 101

Assalamualaikum!

You know I'm trying out LUSH products from this post. No, this is not a review post because it's not even a month since I started using them so I don't think it's fair to do a review yet.

Zuhair bought them in Prague so the labels are all in Cesky. I read my labels so Google Translator is my saviour - kinda. Click the pictures for bigger images ok.

Sooo, umm... I have to close my eyes then spray this on some guy's face?

???

Hey, are you implying something here Mr. Translator??

Weird translation aside, I kinda understand the instructions hihi. But no, not moving to Prague anytime soon =p

Engagement Post #6: Rental service

Assalamualaikum!

You know how we only use certain things once or twice for an occasion & then never again? It kinda feel like a waste to spend money on something that you'll only use just for a few times isn't it? As for me, some of the things I need for my decoration belongs in that category. So to my luck, I stumbled upon a few wedding rental services on Facebook.

Yup, rental services. For my engagement, I rented 2 things, a big, white, super fluffy carpet & the ottoman cushion you always see brides sat on during solemnization.

The big, fluffy carpet & ottoman cushion. 

Up close look of the cushion.

I rented these from Something Borrowed by Nawal for only RM44 because they gave me 20% off for Merdeka promotion. The cushion is very soft & comfortable to sit on & the carpet? Soooo fluffy!! I haven't asked Kak Nawal yet where she bought the carpet from because I'd like to have it for my future home ;p

When I pick up the items, I have to give RM100 as safety deposit, which will be given back upon return of rented items. They have offices in Desa Pinggiran Putra & Kulim so you have to go pick up & return the stuff by yourself. They allow one week of rental so as for me, my engagement day was on 20th Sept 2014 which was on a Saturday so I can pick up the items on Tuesday & return them latest by the next Tuesday. They have a lot of nice things for rent. I got greedy looking at the pretty hantaran tray, crystal candle holder & Moroccan lanterns but gotta remind myself that I'm a girl on a budget ='(

I found this rental services very helpful. I hope you do too ;)

Engagement Post #1
Engagement Post #2
Engagement Post #3
Engagement Post #4
Engagement Post #5

Mehh

Assalamualaikum...

Failed my JPJ test today. Blerghhh... Passed Bahagian III (the driving on the real road part) but failed Bahagian II (the track part). Maybe it's due to overconfidence? Because I'm pretty confident when it comes to Bahagian II because I've practiced 12 hours on the track but I only get 2 hours on the road but I ended up failing Bahagian II. I know right, dah 14jam belajar driving pun tak lulus jugak aku ni. Nvm, dah kawen suami boleh tolong drivekan, eh?? (I can imagine Zuhair sweating buckets if he reads this). 

Alhamdulillah because at least I'll only have to retake Bahagian II only next time so I can focus on just that in the next class.

Made a few friends today during the test. Funny thing is (not funny in truth), we all failed Bahagian II & passed Bahagian III. Annoying... I hope I'll have time to retake soon. HOship will start in Nov & obviously it's gonna be a bit hard to get a leave from work just to do JPJ test. 

Nvm, I'm looking for the silver lining. Maybe I'm not safe yet to drive on the road for real. Tadi pun kat kertas markah tu banyak hilang markah kat part "Gagal menoleh untuk memeriksa titik buta". Bahaya aku ni. Haha!!

I just hope I'll get my P license before exceeding the time limit for L license. I don't wanna start all over again. Leceh!!

Update

Assalamualaikum!

So, if you've read this post, you'd know in less than a week, I'll be starting my houseman ship in Negeri Sembilan, which also explains why I haven't continued my engagement post.

This week is pretty busy with driving class (yes, I'm 25 y.o & still haven't got a driving license yet), packing & settling stuff for work. Just got my name stamp made but sadly, I got it wrong because I didn't put in "Dr." on my name. Probably had to order a new one. Sorry la, I tak biasa lagi jadi doktor ni. Baru nak lapor diri kerja.

Bought some necessities, packed some clothes but not studying a single thing for work yet!! Uh oh... Maybe I'll slip in some reading time during the induction. Maybe... Macam la cukup kan masa ciput macam tu untuk cover a lot of things.

I still have quite a lot to do before Monday. Need to sign some papers in front of a Pesuruhjaya Sumpah, JPJ test on Friday (so nervouss!!! Pray that I'll do well & pass it!!!), more shopping, some Photobook projects, more packing & of course, last lepak session with the friends. It's already Wednesday, I'm not sure I can settle all these, honestly.

Tbh, I'm seriously scared. Am I really cut out to be a doctor? I mean, I don't know. To be somehow responsible over another persons' health, life maybe. Scarrryyyy~~~

Please do pray that I'll be a good & safe doctor. Thanks in advance!

Engagement Post #5: Big bows & name card

Assalamualaikum!

This post is going to still be about the decoration aspect of the engagement. Hihi, I know, it's the fifth post already & you're still not finished blabbing about the decorations Diana?! FYI, I used to want to be a wedding/party planner before going to med school so I hope that somehow explains why I'm soo into stuff like this ;p

OK, this post is about table centerpieces. Simple & super cheap, I promise! I'm on tight budget so I want something that will not break my parents' bank. Of all table centerpieces ideas I've seen on Pinterest, I settled on this one because it has the criteria that I'm looking for; simple & cheap ;)

Simple centerpieces from Better Homes & Garden

This one here does not have a tutorial. The blog focus is the etched letters on the bottle but I liked it for it's simplicity so I improvised it a bit to make it suits my theme. Here's my version;

You like??

When I was in 2nd & 3rd year of med school, I like drinking Ribena Sparkling so I kept the glass bottles because I've seen people use glass bottles & mason jars as decors so I thought, why not save it for the future, just in case. Now 3 years later, I did use them for my engagement! I have 10 bottles which is exactly the number I needed because there were 10 tables prepared by Pak Long. Alhamdulillah for that ;) 

I made big bows using yellow crepe papers & further personalised it with our name card. You can make your own using the template here. I got it through Pinterest obviously. Pinterest is a gold mine I tell you. 

I don't have the picture to show but I also made the flower for this centerpiece. I collected few pretty looking tree branches, made small crepe paper flowers in yellow & cream & attached it to the branch using the floral wire on the flower. I think the total money spent for all 10 centerpieces is less than RM4, for the crepe papers & floral wire. No kidding! But that's mainly because I already have the glass bottles. 

I'm sorry I don't have detailed tutorial on this one. Hope you still find it useful though =p

Engagement Post #1
Engagement Post #2
Engagement Post #3
Engagement Post #4

Engagement Post #4: Different kind of paper flowers

Assalamualaikum!

So, we all know how paper flower is HUGE as weddings/events decorations because they're so easy to make & super cheap too! So as I'm on a small budget for the engagement, super cheap sounds super good. I found this on Pinterest & love how a few of these flowers could make a big difference to the dais as they're very attention grabbing.

Giant flowers by Design Sponge

I made a mistake, making the flowers using crepe paper. Crepe paper is not stiff enough to hold the shape of the flower. So I went & get tissue paper, as instructed by the tutorial at Czip Lee.

It was kinda hard to make pretty flowers at first. I spent an hour making my first giant paper flower but once I got the hang of it I got faster. But that's probably because Ainun & Shida helped by cutting the petals in advance so we can go faster at making the flowers. I finished making 4 in a night, Hendra made 1, then we ran out of paper. I bought 20 cream tissue paper so I guess 20 paper is good for about 5 medium-sized flowers. Medium because the flowers we made are not as big as the one pictured =< 

So here's another mistake I made. I need to buy more paper because I wanted to make 8-9 flowers but this time, I bought a different kind of paper at Kassis Lace & Ribbon House. It cost me rm2/paper so total damage was RM22. I don't wanna buy it at first because of the price but I'm running out of time to finish making decoration. Plus, it's hard for me to go buy it at a later time because I have transport issues. The yellow paper I bought is stiffer than tissue papers but it worked just as great but cost me more because tissue paper is only RM0.50 ='((

I asked for my cousin's help to make the flower stem. I made them very different from the tutorial. I happened to have a few metal pole from the old penyidai baju at the house.

See the horizontal poles, I took those parts off & asked for my cousin's help to cut & cement them in small cans, those susu pekat manis F&N kind of tin. My cousin owns a construction business so this was easy-peasy for him. Picture from Google Images.

I then glued green crepe papers using hot glue gun, directly on the metal poles as the surface is already smooth, so I don't have to cover it with any tape first, like in the tutorial. I also did not use moss as the center of the flower. I just cut a folded green crepe papers & glue it as the center. As for tying the flowers to the stem, instead of zip ties, I used a combo of floral wires & hot glue gun - just to make sure they're not gonna fall off. That's the amazing thing about projects like this. You can have the tutorial as a guideline but you can improvise & change things according to what suits you. Those 3 are the only changes I made, everything else is more or else the same as in the tutorial so go click the link okay.

So, here's the exciting part, pictures of how the flowers looks like on my engagement day;

Remember the L.O.V.E? Here they are ;) Simple but somehow not too blahh, exactly how I want it.

I used the flower that Hendra made as my hand bouquet because it's the smallest around & because I got too lazy to make a different hand bouquet =p

So I hope this will help in case any of you wants to make the giant flowers for any event. I think this looks cute for a birthday or bachelorette party no?

Engagement Post #1

Engagement Post #2

Engagement Post #3

Oh so LUSH!

Assalamualaikum!

This came from Prague today!

I've always wanted to try this brand out since I saw people re blogging pictures of LUSH products on tumblr years ago but 1) Not selling in Malaysia 2) Super expensive

But thanks to Zuhair, I now get to try 'em!! He bought this in Prague - as evidenced by the alien language you'll see on the packaging - & I picked them up from his friend who happens to be on a honeymoon in Prague, on Friday the 10th.

Nice picture I think. Anyone wanna hire me as product photographer? ;p

Tea Tree Water toner & Grease Lightning acne treatment

Karma Kream body lotion & Karma soap bar

Enzymion moisturizer, Dark Angels face cleanser+scrub & Ultrabalm multipurpose balm

Excited!! But that excited-ness was kinda ruined when I realized that I'm not digging the smell of the body lotion & soap bar ='( The orange is fresh & nice - I love citrus scent, but the patchouli just doesn't do it for me.

So I decided to sell both the Karma Kream (body lotion) & Karma soap bar. Any takers? Super brand new guys. Expiration date for both products is on Oct 2015,a year from now. You can read more about the products on their website. I prefer reading the UK than Singapore website as there is more reviews on the UK site.

Karma Kream

Karma soap

Yeahh... turns out I'm not that exotic enough to be lovin' this smell... Maybe the scent is perfect for other girls out there. That girl could be you ;)

If any of you is interested in buying, do drop a comment in the comment box yah. I'll give you my email so we can discuss more about it.

In the meantime, pray I'll have LUSHcious looking face after using these babies ok.


UPDATE: Yayy!! Someone bought the Karma Kream body lotion from me. Any takers for the soap bar? =)

Click that link

Assalamualaikum!

Zawa finally posted about my engagement day on her photography blog ;)


Zuhair & Fardiana's Engagement Day (click!!)


Zuhair & I are both too shy to upload an album on Facebook because you know, it is just an engagement, not a wedding so we wanna keep cool about it (padahal masing-masing excited nak show off gambar) & just do a throwback album of our engagement day after we got married =) We're both super low profile like that -NOT! Haha!

I hope you can pray that our relationship will grow stronger each day & we'll get married next year as promised & continue this relationship 'till Jannah.