2013 in review

This blog is like my second home. I love being here. My escapade, my little hut…. Thank you wordpress, thank you readers and Happy New Year 2014!

WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Old School Hobby

I used to have old school hobby.
Collecting stamps and postcards. Yeah, for some of you especially the new generations, this hobby might sound pretty boring and unchallenging. For those who shares the same hobby like me would understand the feeling. =)

Last time, there was no facebook, twitter, instagram. Handphone? Also nada. I lived in a small town where the tv channels also very limited. I still remember how I would love raining before, because when it was raining, my home can received signal to watch TV3. Lol! Imagine how we managed to kill the spare time when we were young. That’s how I had came across to love this hobby.

While doing the spring cleaning that day, I found my Stamp albums. i have two albums indeed, the other one is belongs to my sister. hehe. I have many collections from the United Kingdom, some from foreign countries and not fogetting from within Malaysia.  My sister was studying oversea before, one of the way to contact each other was by writing letters. Besides, I was active in ‘pen palling’ during that time. That’s where I got some of the stamps.

I also love collecting postcards. Mostly I got them from my sister. She told me, postcards was one way for advertising in UK. And it’s free! So she kept it and gave it to me. Look, I got postcards of Liverpool players as well… (used to be a Liverpool fan before. Will keep it for another story. hehe). I have postcard of The Verve, Bluetones, Primal Scream… you won’t have that in Malaysia. yihiii.. There is a postcard from New Zealend, this postcard really brings memory to me. It was from my mirc friend – Blair.(yeah…. mirc, remember??? lol) He studied in New Zealend and he likes to tease and call me ‘nerdy girl’ because I told him that I have to take computing course before. For him, computing course is for a nerd people only. hehe. That was it, we lost contact after I entered the college. huhu.

I realised that most of my postcard collections were fancy postcards. Only a few were representing the country. ahaha. Can you spot Rose and Jack from the Titanic postcard? Yeah, I was crazy over Leonardo Di Caprio when I was teenager. There you go, my secret reveals. Ahaha. I still have some postcards not in the album. If you love to collect or swap postcard with me, don’t hesitate to contact me (nazuramn@yahoo.com). We can swap and I would love to do so…

Now, tell me… do you have any old school hobby?

Ciao!
Azura Chan xoxo

Drugshelf

Finally, finally…. finally… my bookshelf is loaded with drugs.
May call it a drugshelf? Better. hehe.
Took ages to clear, sorting, makeover the shelf. It used to be a ‘junkshelf’ before. And now, I have turn it into my drugshelf and my crafty workspace (70% needed on that part. gih gih gih).

Come, let’s have a sneak peek at my little heaven…

My Sophie Kinsella collections. I have completed collecting the stand alone books. My favourite so far is I’ve Got Your Number. hehe. And the mission is still going on, to complete the Shopaholic series. I only have two from the series. Also, would love to collect her books with her other name ‘Madelaine Wickham’.

This is my Amanda Hocking collection. My first book of her is the Switched, from the Trylle series. Yeah, didn’t complete it as well. Need to find for Torn and Ascend. Looking forward for a bargain sale next year. hehe. However, I managed to complete the Watersong series. Yay!

Hey, there’s a section for Malay book as well. I read anything, never bias on reading materials. In fact, it will widen our knowledge. I only took picture on my favourite Malay author, Ramlee Awang Murshid. Hmm… another incomplete for the Laksamana Sunan’s dwi-trilogy. The first book – Bagaikan Puteri, if any of you want to let go the book… please… contact me. hehe.

There you go… all have been loaded into the bookshelf. And…. there are still more empty spaces lah. That means, I can still shop for more books next year!!! Yeahuuuu…. (DearDear, please be sporting… 😉 )

p/s: Added to my new year resolution. x)

Enjoy your weekend!
Azura Chan. xoxo

Fine Motor Skills

Hello readers.
How was your holiday? Hopefully it was merrier and joyful.

I had started to introduce block game and legos to Amani since she was one year (plus) old. At that time, she was very clumsy at handling those blocks. From what I’d experienced, children learns from observation. She learned it from us. We used to build something from the legos and then showed to her.

Now, she manages to build on her own without any help from us. From a simple block she made to a very complicated (at her age) block. I was surprised when I saw that one day she build a ship! Just like a wood ship replica of DearDear’s.

This is one of the fine motor skills development in children. Another skill she had learned from me was ‘melipat baju’. Lol!

“Here’s my Lego Ship, mama.”
I am impressed! Well done my girl! Next time mama will buy you a girly legos, saw once sell at the Toys R Us that day. hihi.

p/s: Mama suka buang duit. hihihi. 😛

Thanks a zillion!

Too close yet so far. That’s how I describe my relationship between my friends nowadays. The more we grown up, the distant our relationship.
Luckily we understand our own commitment these days…

Last Sunday, my childhood best friend, Nomie came to visit my father at home. The last time we met was three years ago at my wedding reception. Since my father had been warded, I’ve been followed up her with my father’s condition.

I am touched when she came with a dressing kit and she even helped nursing my father. Well, she’s a nurse and I bet she’s familiar with these kind of situation. We thank you, for your generosity and your concern toward us. May Allah bless you with more good health and wealth…. Thank you so much Nomie!

Wrap up

Hello friends and readers…
So I’ve been neglecting my blog again. Ooh… how I miss you guys so much. I’ve become a silent reader to your blog as well..

I’m back in Kuching. Returned from my short holiday last week. Am not saying it was a vacation instead, because we were last minute had to changed the plan to attend my husband’s cousin wedding (The Solemnization). Indeed, we’re planning to go this week (The Reception). Luckily we didn’t go this week, cuz my father was discharged from the hospital last Thursday.

First, enjoy the pictures of me (Mamani, precisely) in KL.

The solemnization. 14/12/13

Amani and her ‘princess’ dress. Thumbs up for the ‘makcik’, she sewed Amani’s dress for one day only!

Taking a picture with Cinderella. I told her to pose like a princess, and then… okay. That was a princess pose, I guess. hehe.

When I was in KL, I received a bad news from Kuching which was about my father. He had to do another surgery. For this year only, he had done 5 surgeries. I don’t feel peaceful when I was in KL. I feel guilty for leaving my parent even it for a short period. Luckily my brothers and sister were there to support them.

Alhamdulillah, his condition has improved. He is now at home and of course with his condition, our routine also changed. Hopefully he will recover very soon. Thanks to friends and families for your supports, and your pray…

Moving on to another wrap up story… This morning as I browsed for the Popin Craft page, I saw the pictures of the Open Call 2013 POPIN Exhibition.

**Picture from facebook/popincraft

Does it rings your bell? Yeah, my cross stitch project was on the exhibition. And there were my friends’ as well. Well, if I stick to my first plan, I decided to attend the exhibition in Singapore. Perhaps it’s not my year. Will try it again next year.

**Picture from facebook/popincraft
There you go…. my froggie was in between of the two ladies. hehe. Never mind myself couldn’t go to Singapore. At least my artwork has reached the country.  I hope my friend Angela has attend the exhibition. Don’t forget to snap pictures, dear. hehe.

Till then, bye~
Azura Chan xoxo

First Time Abroad

Dear friends and readers.
I’m sorry for neglecting this blog for a few days.
I am away from my home town at the moment and my health condition is not good. I’ve  got the three course meals  : Sore throat, cough and flu.

We’re on holiday to attend the wedding of my husband’s cousin in Peninsular Malaysia. This is first time Amani went abroad using aeroplane. She knews aeroplane but she never board inside. So that day I told her, this is aeroplane… She took my tablet and asked to take a picture of it. There you go, a picture of aeroplanes.

Luckily she was enjoying her flight. I brought a small book and Doraemon stickers to keep her busy. The only problem was, she hates wearing the seat belt. (“)’

Cupcake for newborn

Hey ya! Fancy for some cupcakes?

Ooops… sorry. Those cupcakes are for newborn only.
What? Newborn??

Take a closer look. They’re onesies for newborn. hehe. Yesterday, one of our colleague decided to give a newborn gift for her friend. Well, she came to the right person. Ain and me suggested to make a cupcake box from onesie.

This is what happened when boss was not around. tehehe. A box of cupcakes is ready to savour. hehe.

Another from A&A Design. (Ain & Azura)  x)

HK Singing Bone

Yeahuu… I’ve got Hello Kitty Singing Bone!

Again, thanks to my brother for buying this. I didn’t collect all 5 of them, I only collect the one I fancy the most. Now I have three limited edition of McDonald’s Hello Kitty. Now.. who’s more excited? Mama or Amani? Teheheee… 😛

Temptation #37: Rice Porridge

This is the best rice porridge I’ve ever had in Kuching. We called it ‘Bubur Kedei Kakak’ (Sister’s shop porridge). ahaha. The porridge taste soo ‘lemak’ and the portion is just nice to my stomach. It cost only RM2.50 You can find her stall at Lemon Tree Cafe, besides the Wisma Mahmud (CMS) building.