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March 30, 2011

FIVE Things That I Am Grateful For TODAY and YESTERDAY

i havent posted anything for awhile. been stumped with familial commitments... and moreover, with the lack of inspiration to write when i have to wrestle with my young son on laptop time.


because i rather let him use it, because hey, i'm the Adult here. :P


anyways, just to share the 'meme' which was passed between us four sisters, and posted in our respective FB last week.


here it is, have a read:

this 'count your blessings' write up was initiated by my younger sister Dikya earlier this week at which i jokily asked whether it was a tag, more because i havent written much recently, so it would give me a good excuse. :)so it became a tag between us sisters and now that Ta, my twin has written hers, i should get cracking. (and pass the baton to Kak long, my elder sister)

i wanted to write yesterday but between the news of my already ailing grandmother suffering from a mild stroke and visiting her later; and going through the motions of (my kids') weekend schedule, i was worn to write. so here are my 5:

1. I am grateful for my two animated and boisterous boys who mean the world to me, who lift me up and love me unconditionally as i do them.

2. I am grateful that i have a job because i have an income to afford stuff for my boys and not feel (that) guilty for buying my own stuff. :P

3. I am grateful that despite being meatier and *cough* older now, i am (now) relatively healthy with able limbs and sound mind.

4. I am grateful that i have a spouse who supports me (and my idiosyncrasies) even when he sometimes does not understand me (and this goes both ways).

5. I am grateful that even though we dont see eye to eye all the time, there is dinner on the table, my maid is rightly supervised and my boys are a lot happier. and as a result i am meatier. :D

so, there. to surmise, do count your blessings. which i think should be on daily basis.and if you want to share them here, i'll be ever so grateful to read them. ;)

Kaklong, your turn now. :)


March 14, 2011

Crepe de Chine

i am always fascinated by this fabric's loveliness and luxuriness ( or perhaps more so that it has 'de Chine' at the back ) so i decided to check it out today.

so here is a summarised definition, which i got from here :

crepe de Chine, also spelled Crêpe De Chine,  (French: “crepe of China”), light and fine plainwoven dress fabric produced either with all-silk warp and weft or else with a silk warp and hard-spun worsted weft. A crepe de Chine texture has a slightly crepe character, a feature produced by the use of weft, or filling, yarns spun with the twist running in reverse directions and known as right-hand and left-hand twist, respectively. During weaving, the picks of filling are inserted in the order of “two-and-two” (i.e., with two picks of weft with a right-hand twist and two picks with a left-hand twist).

and here is the visual image :



and this a lovely crepe de chine creation by Emilio Pucci



as well as my favourite designer at the moment - Chloe.

Chloé Chloé Chloé Chloé 

with the exception of the last picture - which is a confection made of cotton and crepe de chine - all featured piece of clothing are made from crepe de chine.

arent they divinely gorgeous? but outrageously expensive for my pay scale. the designer brand, i mean. :P

now, do these make you want to go out and get a piece of crepe de chine and create something similarly or even more beautiful?

:)

PS: not in the mood for words today, so i am looking for visuals to stimulate my ache for creativity.


picture credits are from (in order of arrangement) :
http://www.voguefabricsstore.com/
www.fashionfuss.com
www.net-a-porter.com

March 11, 2011

Shawling Part 1

Style 1

Style 2

PICTURES do speak louder than words - apparently - and since the pictures (and shawl... oooookay, AS WELL AS model are beautiful and engaging), one would like to try the style as depicted above.

one must remember the importance of advertisement in marketing one's products.

the two different styles do not differ much but they still impose a sizeable challenge to me, as i am all thumbs!

today, i'm trying out Style 2. hopefully, it does not look like i'm wearing a beehive on top of my head. :P

(pictures are shamelessly taken from http://www.sugarscarfbyriqa.com/ - they do have lovely shawls and hijabs at amazingly affordable prices, but unfortunately in limited quantity, so better be 'kiasu' and try to make an advance booking *wink*)

March 10, 2011

LEADERSHIP

I got this picture through an email from one of the professional subscriptions I've engaged in.
The picture is of nothing spectacular; just a stack of red coloured books stacked on top of another with the different titles (or elements) creating the word LEADER vertically, but it drew me in.
And it got me thinking.


so do you have what it takes? :)
 
WHAT MAKETH A LEADER?
I believe the six embedded qualities or elements are vital and verily, essential for a Leader.
When one is lacking, a Leader is not who she (or he) is ought to be.
Or would a missing element matter much?

In my humble opinion, if you don't have all the qualities, it does not necessarily mean you will not qualify or destined to be a Leader. to become a great and effective leader, you have to work for it. it doesn't happen overnight - whereby you wake up in the morning with a superhuman strength that is cheesily called Super Leader (can't help myself) - but i believe it's more of a gradual process. it's a hit and miss thing, and you develop your leadership quality or prowess or whatever you like to call it, along the way, filled with more uneven bumps than straight sure-fire routes. you have to face them in order to learn, and when things don't go your way, it doesn't mean you are a failure. when you take your hardships and turn them around to serve you, in such a way that you learn from your mistakes, and a vow to improve yourself because you deserve it, you will then be able to grow spiritually.  grow as a person.

And when you do, you are able to lead yourself. motivate yourself. because you have the requisite self-belief.
it's  true. leadership starts from within. you could not (and would not) lead unless you believe that you could. and yes, this is something that i need to tell myself over and over again.

From Merriam-Webster Free Online Dictionary, the meaning of the word Leader is 'to lead' - which does not explain much until you know the definition of the word LEAD.
LEAD, as a transitive verb is:
1. to guide on a way especially by going in advance ;
2. to direct on a course or in a direction ;
3. to serve as a channel for (the example given is 'a pipe leads water to the house')

(click here for the link to the site)

Before i go overboard (although i may inadvertently have gone) with my fascination with the English language, i am not here to lecture on the actual meaning of To Lead, per se... but to illustrate that, even without you knowing it, you are a leader already, leading others in your own UNIQUE way,

Either you are guiding a friend or a colleague with the instructions on a particular task or directing a step-by-step way to go to a new place or to bake a cake (typical me to think of food), and perhaps, channeling your time and energy to help under privileged persons,
YOU ARE already LEADING.

so it is that easy peasy. it is actually BIG, not at all measly. :)

and all you can do for yourself is to incorporate the INTELLIGENCE, HONESTY, CREATIVITY, CONFIDENCE, DRIVE and COURAGE elements along the way in your pursuit of purposeful LEADERSHIP.

because as of now, believe it or not, you may already have at least one of these qualities. right?
RIGHT. :)

March 6, 2011

a funereal funeral

morbidly, that's the first thought that came to me when i was thinking of an adjective to depict a funeral.

but then again, a funeral is always funereal, therefore my description is rather redundant and some might say a tad insensitive. but that aside, let me begin.

anyways, my aunt, who is my dad's elder sister passed away on Friday, 25 February 2011. i received this news via the dad's sms, shortly after coming back from the long Friday lunch. it was rather surreal, because i was talking with my close friend about death (in her family, recently) not even an hour before the news struck. she was pronounced dead a few minutes before dad sent the message,

of course i was agape. numb. but incongruously calm. i wasn't close to the deceased but i know that my dad is and the fact that he was losing a number of his siblings during the last few years made it even heart breaking. and telling. that time is catching up on us. or is it, more appropriately, mortality is catching up on us?

i called up dad later to ask him about the funeral arrangement and was surprised to learn that the late aunt's children were planning the burial that same night. i thought a Saturday morning service would be more suitable because some far away relatives would want to pay their last respects. so i rang hubby about us leaving work early in order to make it to the funeral in Ipoh that night. he couldnt leave early but he promised to try to leave promptly at the end of business day.

so in the end, we left about half past 6, after ensuring that my creaking car is long distance travel worthy. i wanted to bring the kiddos (due to purely selfish reason of me not wanting to miss them) but knowing it's for a short duration (not an overnighter) and it was after all a funeral, i decided not to bring them. we arrived at my late aunt's house shortly after 830pm.

she was already covered in the white burial shroud when we stepped in. i felt a sudden pang of remorse when i asked if it was alright for me to kiss her. and the children - my cousins - reopened the face covering and then i kissed her and recited the holy words from the Quran. and then, she was covered entirely and i could not help felt the tears welling up in my eyes. we could have been close, if we have let ourselves be. we didnt try hard enough. and now she has become one of my deceased distant relatives - not by physical distance but more due to circumstantial one. the one we do to ourselves. we grew up, they grew older, and in the process, we forget, or become forgetful.

my late aunt was carried to her final resting place in a nearby Muslim burial ground. i didnt go with the entourage (made up of menfolk mostly, except for her children), nor did my husband after that long drive, so we waited along with my mother and sister's family at my aunt's house. it was a long wait for our father to come home but i did not mind. while waiting, there was the usual gossip but i didnt show enough interest for it to escalate as it was inappropriate, but funnily, one of the daughter in-laws came and sat with me (without prompting) and shared with me the family's secret. i always wondered why people chose to confide in me as it could be a curse as i am not - and i'm not feigning modesty - the best person to be the trustee of secrets. i almost always let them out by accidents because i have this selective amnesia whereby i could not seem to remember whether a piece of information is actually confidential.

anyhow, it is best to say that people confide because they see it as a release, or perhaps, for this person, she wanted me to share with the other members of the clan, and did not want the burden of telling to fall on herself, but to this day, i have not divulged the news to those who mattered. (sharing it with the spouse did not count as he is not an actual family member).

it is not so much because i do not want to interfere, because if i want to, i will make myself heard. stamp my horsey feet in front of them to show my self-righteous disapproval. moo like a cow, mock like a parrot. make a lot of fuss so that the parties involved will start questioning, and later reflecting and if we're fortunate, initiate changing. not only will grief shroud them, with this knowledge, guilt will be even more overpowering.

nevertheless i decided to shut my mouth up. because really, the person that actually matters has passed away. no amount of questioning, reflecting and changing will ever bring her back.