Growing Up Together; My Big Sis and I

Can’t believe it has been almost a year since I last wrote something here. I do have so many things to write, but I rarely use my iPad. Why does it matter? Well, because for blogging, I still and will always prefer typing on keyboard rather than keypad, hence the iPad.

So today is my big sister’s birthday and I guess I finally have a strong reason to find time to write something here. She’s four years older than me and that means she turns 42 this year. Alhamdulillah. In my birthday wish for her in our family group today, I did mention this sentence: “terima kasih jadi kakak yang sangat baik” coz she definitely is! Allahumma baarik.

Me & elder sis. Terengganu.

I can still remember how she never felt that it’s embarrassing to bring a little sister everywhere she goes to hang out with friends. To think of it, it’s actually funny that she brought me along with her even to meet her besties at their homes. You can ask me about them, I know their names, their details and even their siblings’ names. 😂 

My sister was such a chatty person (with someone she’s comfortable with) and that’s why she talked about literally everything to me. I remember when we were during primary school, mom used to scold us for kept getting carried away with our crappy conversations and delayed our prayers because of that. Astaghfirullahal ‘adzim. 

As I get older, I realized that what my sister did (bringing me everywhere) was something very thoughtful and amazing. It was something that I never see her friends did. And I myself never did that! 

The day she got married. ;’)

Well, as for me it’s because me and my younger sister has a huge age gap between us which is; 14 years. I was already staying in a hostel when she was born hence the bond we had wasn’t as close as what I had with my elder sister, unfortunately. 

Back to my elder sister, I think one of the reasons we are so close is because we’ve spent many years living in the same room. She’s my best friend and she’s the one who understands every lame joke I make. And as millenials, we enjoyed watching a lot of TV series & movies in every language possible; Malay, English, Chinese (Singapore/Hong Kong/Taiwan), Tamil, Hindi, Japanese, Indonesian. 

Sometimes when we loved a movie so much, we would watch it again and again till we memorize the script by heart and would act as if we were the main characters. 😂 We enjoyed watching our favorite shows on TV, VCRs, and CDs. And not to forget, we spent a lot of time too, listening to the radio at night as well as our favorite boy bands’s cassettes. 

Little sis, big sis and me. <3

Oh how I wish I can go back to those times for a while. They were perfect, because all siblings lived under one roof and our parents were with us, healthy and strong. 😢 Little did I know that getting older somehow means you’ll miss your past even more and it hurts. 

I still have so many things to write about me and my sisters but I guess I need to stop here for now. Hopefully this post won’t be the only post for this year. 

Well, till we meet again. ❤️ 

A Beautiful Mind

Bismillah. 

Watched a beautiful and inspiring movie with my husband just now. The title is A beautiful Mind, based on a true story of a Professor named John Nash. I rarely watch movies but this movie is an exception. 

In brief, he was a genius student (then a professor and won Nobel prize on 1994- hey I was 7 at that time!) in the field of economics and mathematics and obviously numbers fascinate him a lot. To cut the story short, he suffered from scizophrenia and he found out about it shortly after he got married to his student; Alicia.

I don’t wanna write a lot about the story, so if you are interested to know, just head on to wikipedia and read the synopsis. What I wanna share here is about the lessons I learned from it;

1) mental illness can happen to anyone including genius and smart people. 

2) having a mental illness isn’t embarassing and it’s not a choice. 

3) Some mental illness patients might feel afraid or ashamed to let others know about their condition but it’s quite helpful if they let people aware about it. Those who aren’t afraid to share about their struggle to healing, are indeed strong and resilient. 

4) Mentall illness doesn’t only affect the patient, but the caretaker or the people living with them as well. So it’s of paramount importance for them to learn how to live with these patients, and more importantly, how to make them feel supported in their journey to recovery. 

5) The first brave thing to do for a person with mental illness is to admit they have it, and the second is; to seek help. 

6) Certain mental illness can’t be healed and the patient just have to live with it forever. And the only choice they have is to fight it and to learn how to control themselves whenever the illness strikes. 

7) Never give up to fight for our life, no matter what tests are being given. And it’s totally worth it to keep on doing the best that we can, with what we have, in the condition we are in. 

8) Love can make us strong, love can help us to heal.

9) To sacrifice for our beloved ones, is always worth it. 

10) No matter what we experience in our life, add meaning to it.  

Before I stop, I wanna leave you with this lyrics;

All Love Can Be (from the wife to her sick husband)

I will watch you in the darkness 
Show you love will see you through 
When the bad dreams wake you crying 
I'll show you all love can do 
All love can do 

I will watch through the night 
Hold you in my arms 
Give you dreams where no one will be 
I will watch through the dark 
Till the morning comes 

For the lights will take you 
Through the night to see 
All love, showing us all love can be 

I will guard you with my bright wings 
Stay till your heart learns to see 
All love can be.

Larian Pertama Dalam Hidup, Pinktober 2020.

 Bismillah.

Sebelum perasaan yang saya alami sekarang ini hilang, saya mahu catatkan di sini. Tentang hari ini, petang ini khususnya. 

Beberapa minggu lepas saya cabar diri untuk sertai virtual run buat pertama kali dalam hidup. Selama ni memang ada keinginan nak sertai tapi saya kurang berminat sertai event running yang public. Wallahua'lam mungkin pada masa akan datang (selepas tamatnya covid19) saya akan sertai.

Cara sertai virtual run tu sangat mudah, ringkasnya begini:

1) Daftar & bayar (boleh pilih samada nak beli jersey dan medal atau medal sahaja. Saya pilih medal sahaja)

2) Selepas terima e-bib, dah boleh mula lari pada tarikh yang ditetapkan. Larian yang saya sertai kali ini ialah Pinktober. Bermula 8hb Oktober sehingga 31 Oktober 2020. 

3) Habiskan larian 7km. Sikit sahaja kan? Tempoh yang diberi sangat lama iaitu dalam 3 minggu. Sehari 1km pun boleh. Tak perlu habiskan sekaligus.

4) Lepas dah cukup 7km, screenshot page dari app step tracker seperti Strava atau Pacer, kemudian submit pada organizer. Organizer yang saya sertai kali ini ialah Fit Muslimah Run. Ada jersey muslimah, terbaik. 

5) Tunggu organizer post jersey & medal kita. Selesai.

Jadi semalam saya belum mula 'berjalan' untuk cukupkan 7km. Saya mulakan pagi ini. Rancangan asal, saya nak brief walk dalam 2-3km sahaja sehari. Jadi pagi tadi saya berjaya habiskan dalam 3km. Dan petang ni saya cuba cabar diri untuk tambah lagi sedikit km. 

Saya pakai headphone, pasang kuat-kuat seolah berada dalam dunia sendiri, dan saya lari dan lari. Semangat entah dari mana tapi saya memang tak rasa nak berhenti apatah lagi penat. Bila cek app, oh rupanya saya dah lari lebih 7km! Tak dapat nak gambarkan macam mana rasa puas hati dan gembira bila berjaya cabar diri. Ada satu kepuasan yang tak pernah saya rasakan sebelum ini. MashaAllah! 

Sekarang saya dah selesai dengan Pinktober run dan hanya menunggu medal sampai ke rumah. Alhamdulillah. Betul lah, berpeluh ni sebenarnya sangat bagus untuk emosi kita. Banyak bergerak boleh memberi kesan yang baik pada emosi dan fizikal kita. 

Jadi kalau ada hari kita rasa sedih, get up and move! Jangan layan perasaan atau apa-apa lagu yang menyedihkan. Kita bertanggungjawab atas hidup kita, jadi kita usahakan buat yang terbaik. Jumpa lagi dalam entri seterusnya. <3

Resilient

 Bismillah.

A quick update. Just wanna share my current favorite word; resilient.

All this while I think the meaning is to be strong while facing challenges and life's adversity, but it actually means more than that. 

Resilience means; 

the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

And someone who's resilient is;

able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

Beautiful, isn't it? Being strong doesn't mean that we don't feel the hardship, the pain or the suffering. We do feel it, but we manage to recover from it quickly and we don't let ourselves drowning in the difficulties without having the intention to truly heal.

And, this word actually has something to do with one of my current jobs. You'll find out about it really soon inshaAllah.

Till then, goodbye! 

Sleepy but Wanna Write Something

Bismillah.

Before this, I planned to make this blog as a niche blog regarding book, reading and such. But as time goes by, I think it's not a good idea since I have no time to properly curate the content that I wanna share here. Perhaps Reading Muslimah IG is enough for bookish stuffs.

As for this blog, I wanna continue writing randomly about anything I want. As what I used to do since years ago. One day all these writings will be significant, no matter how random it is. And I love to think that one day when Majdiyya and Ajda grew up, they will feel happy to read their Mama's ramblings here. 

My current work update;

- got a job from a publication company, as a content writer for their new book campaign. You'll love the book!

- Started my responsibility/job as product ambassador of a Quran seller. Though this is my first time being an ambassador, this ambassador thingy is one of the things that I have knowledge regarding it. 

- As for Elsajida, I already stopped accepting any paid product review on IG story. I have a few strong reasons why I did so. And I only accept gift review for certain products. So far I don't have any big plans for Elsajida yet, just continue updating inspiring quotes and stories. When the time is right, inshaAllah we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I have to stop now. I am sleepy and it's time for me to sleep, not rant. 

 

Of Reading Muslimah, Elsajida & Journaling Muslimah

Change in my life has forgotten how to press its brake. It keeps coming and coming and I have no choice but to be strong and resilient. 

This month, I have made the decision to partially let go of Reading Muslimah. Sure I am still a big part of it but I am no longer the content creator nor the admin. I have told Safa that she has to take the responsibility since I need to focus on my dream, on my work. 

Of course Reading Muslimah is my dream too, like I said before I am still the founder, the advisor, the heart of it. It's just that I am no longer the 'Kak RM' people used to call. I have given a big portion of the company share to Safa as well. 

I trust Safa on this. She has been my 'student' for more than a year and I believe she can figure it out. To prove this, she recently asked 3 most committed members of Reading Muslimah to help her to navigate the journey of Reading Muslimah. Each and every one of them (Siqah, Faraa & Aliyah) has their own strength to help Reading Muslimah to expand, inshaAllah. 

As for Elsajida, I have stopped some big things regarding it in order to lessen my time, energy and focus on it. I have no intention to stop updating Elsajida since it's my passion; which is to inspire women out there. And Elsajida is the perfect place for me to do so. So far, I will only use Elsajida as a place for me to update Islamic & inspiring quotes. And the quotes aren't designed or prepared by me. I ask my daughter to help. I plan to properly hire someone to help me regarding Elsajida but, not in the meantime. 

I let go of more and more things that I think I have to let go. I just can't deny that in order to succeed, I have to FOCUS on one thing. I don't wanna be 'neither here nor there'. And what's that one thing? It's Journaling Muslimah. I am doing my best for it. From the early days I create it, I can already see its potential to grow worldwide. My goal isn't money; it's sharing about Quran and at the same time, improving my relationship with Quran. 

May Allah ease. 

New Place

Bismillah.

First post for 2020 huh?

Despite the immense changes that I face this year (other than covid19 for sure).

Just a quick update, it has been a few months since I no longer live in KL.

For good? Wallahua'lam.

Only the closest people in my life know about this. And you. :)

Alhamdulillah I am happy and grateful at this new place I call home.

I do miss KL sometimes, but not to the extend that it can make me sad.

I am grateful, I truly am.


Till then, Assalamualaikum. <3

A Special Ramadan, indeed.

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah Allah has given me the chance to meet Ramadan again this year. For me, this Ramadan is the best Ramadan I've gone through so far. (Will make it more special next year inshaAllah). The main reason why I said so is because; there are a few important things that I have done on Ramadan this year, that I've never done them before. I am not going to write down every single thing that has made my ramadan this year very special, since many of them are quite personal, but some of them are as follows;

1) A detailed planning for my Ramadan, written a few days before Ramadan. I write every single thing that I planned to do during Ramadan, in term of ibadah, family, food, social medias, reading and so on. One thing I can say about Ramadan planning is; it's very vital. It helps a lot. I used to think that I will be so busy during Ramadan with my business (Elsajida) and won't have lots of time to read Quran but I was totally wrong! Once I made proper planning like this, MashaAllah Alhamdulillah, I realized I do have enough (even extra) times to read Quran & I even read more books this Ramadan compared to other months, despite my busy schedule.I will make sure that next year I will make my Ramadan planning a few weeks before Ramadan arrives, inshaAllah

2) I started writing in Quran journal. It's such a great feeling to be able to do Quran journaling. It helps me in improving my relationship with alQuran. I feel closer to it mashaAllah. I didn't write everyday coz honestly it's really hard to find time to properly sit on chair at my study table and write something in my journal. But I still managed to write once in a while Alhamdulillah.

3) This year, I learned a lot of new info about making dua. Little did I know that there are so much more things regarding making prayers than just asking something from Allah. And one of the new stuffs I learned from sis Ayesha Syahira from her book (Being A Quran Tag Girl), we have to construct a dua list. That's one of the proves that we are really serious about making prayers to Allah, and so that we won't forget what we want to pray every time we make du'a. This prayer list is extra important during the ten last night of Ramadan. Thanks to sis Ayesha for teaching us on how to be more serious about making dua.

4) Slowed down from social media. I signed off from my personal instagram (IG) during the ten last days. I didn't sign off from Facebook or Twitter because honestly I rarely spend my time there. My biggest problem is instagram. I am active there and scrolled IG newsfeed a lot. So I guessed taking a rest from it for 10 days will be a great move to be done. Alhamdulillah I am glad I did it. 

5) In majority days of Ramadan this year, I managed to eat less during iftar than I used to. And saved lots of money and time since I go to masjid for iftar. So I usually eat dates and 1-2 kuih before performing solat Maghrib, and eat rice right after that. I can say that eating like in normal days for iftar is totally enough and adequate. We don't have to eat more than usual days just because we are fasting. In fact, after we fast, our stomach has gotten used to eat less. I don't wanna teach my kids that Ramadan is a food feast month, instead it's a month of Ibadah feast. 

6) I managed to read more books than the other months, Alhamdulillah! I usually put 5 books maximum in my every month TBR (to be read) list. And yes, I did plan to read 5 books too this month but I have extra time to read one more books, and in sum, I read 6 books. Alhamdulillah. 6 books a month might sounds very little to those who are able to read more than 10 books monthly. But as for a budding mumpreneur like me, these amount is good enough. Thank you Allah.

That's all for now. May Allah give us chance to meet Laylatul Qadr this year inshaAllah. <3

My January Book Wishlist

Bismillah.

Biasanya bila masuk bulan baru, ramai orang akan kongsi book haul mereka, iaitu buku-buku yang telah mereka baca untuk bulan sebelumnya. Tapi untuk bulan ini, sengaja saya mahu buat kelainan, saya mahu kongsi buku-buku yang ditambah masuk ke dalam wishlist saya untuk setakat bulan Januari.

1. Walk with Wings oleh Tene Edwards

Buku ini buku poems. Ada yang kongsi sajak dari buku ini dan saya terus jatuh cinta.
Kerana sajaknya tentang strength, inspirasi, motivasi dan sebagainya. 

2. Asam Garam Rumah Tangga Nabi oleh Luqman Makhtar

Semakin dewasa, semakin saya sentiasa tercari inspirasi dari sirah Nabi sollallahu alaihi wasallam. Kerana itu, saya mudah tertarik dengan apa sahaja buku sirah. Mahu contohi mereka yang berjaya dunia akhirat.

3. Hope Rekindled oleh Raghad Ebied

Kerana sekarang saya amat suka baca buku-buku yang empowering seperti ini, yang ditulis oleh muslimah.

4. High Performance Habits oleh Brendon Burchard

Bermula dengan menonton video-video motivasi & bisnes di youtube nya, membuatkan saya tertarik untuk membeli bukunya.

5. Taking Action oleh Barakah K. Hassan

Top wishlist! Sebab buku bisnes untuk wanita, oleh muslimah. Agak rare. 

6. Be Strong oleh Bonda Nor

Tertarik dengan tagline "berani menjadi aku." Tak sabar nak dapatkan untuk cari motivasi buat diri.

7. Da'i Disruptor oleh Muharikah

Sebab penulisnya ialah Muharikah dan setakat ini saya belum terlepas lagi apa-apa bukunya. Kecuali yang ini. :)

8. Rediscover Allah Rediscover Yourself oleh Aliyah Quadri

Ini juga lebih kurang buku Hope Rekindled, oleh Muslimah (bukan Malaysia), berkaitan inspirasi hidup.

9. Grit oleh Angela Duckworth

Mula kenali istilah grit dari video penulisnya di Tedtalk. Kemudia nampak ramai orang beli buku ini  di BBW tahun lepas. Sayangnya saya tak jumpa buku ini ketika itu. Ada di bookstore biasa tapi semestinya harga berkali ganda mahal berbanding di BBW. 

10. Usrahku Sayang oleh Ustazah Fatimah Syarha

Tiba-tiba rasa teringin nak baca buku ni tentang usrah. Dan saya memang jatuh hati dengan penulisan ustazah, bermula dengan novel Tautan Hati suatu masa dulu.

Saya kongsikan 10 sahaja. Bulan depan saya kongsi wishlist Februari pula. Wishlist ni tak bermakna saya mahu beli serta merta, tapi sekurang-kurangnya bila saya ke kedai buku, saya dah tahu saya mahu buku apa. Dan mungkin boleh jadi buku dalam wishlist anda juga. ;)

Juadah sepanjang Haji 2016

Bismillah.

Kali ni saya terasa mahu kongsi post santai sahaja berkaitan pengalaman haji. Iaitu antara juadah yang saya makan sepanjang mengerjakan haji pada tahun 2016. Jom tengok gambar. ;)

Nasi tomato (mungkin?) dengan ayam + hati goreng kunyit. Masa jumpa gerai yang jual lauk ni, terus beli sebab tekak rindu makanan Malaysia. Yang ni walaupun tak berapa macam masakan Malaysia tapi not bad. Repeat juga lepas tu. Alhamdulillah. Gerai ni ada kat area bertentangan masjidil haram, yang kena naik guna escalator terbuka, sebelah hotel Pullman/Hilton

Kat Mekah ada banyak kedai jual fastfood dan bagi saya, brand ni antara yang paling okay dengan tekak sebab ada yang spicy. Lagi sedap kalau bawa sos cili dari Malaysia sekali. ;) Broast al Rayid ni sebelah je dengan hotel kami menginap, Hotel Land Premium. 

Makanan pertama ketika dalam penerbangan, mahu bertolak ke Mekah. 

Makan-makan dalam bilik dengan roommates, ayam broast al rayid, mi segera
(di sana memang ramai juga jemaah makan mi segera sekali sekala bila tekak mula
terasa mahu makan selain makanan arab), roti dengan chocolate spread dan kunafah.

Nasi dengan sup daging. Sup ni pekat, sangat sedap Alhamdulillah. Ini antara packed food
yang kami dapat ketika di Arafah. Kalau tak silap saya, untuk sarapan. 

Antara makanan ketika di Mina. Alhamdulillah sentiasa banyak makanan.
Pagi nasi, lunch juga nasi, dan begitu juga dinner. 

Mi segera, ketika dalam khemah di Mina. Ada banyak mi segera dijual di kedai luar khemah di Mina. 

Kunafah, dibeli dari kedai yang sama dengan ayam kunyit tadi. Kali pertama saya makan kunafah dan yang ini paling sedap. Sebab saya ada juga beli dari tempat lain, tapi tak sesedap yang ini. Kalau dapat makan kunafah ni panas-panas dengan aiskrim vanilla memang umph. ;)

Masa ni harijadi kak Su, salah seorang roommate di Mekah. Kami berkumpul dan makan donut/kek bersama-sama ketika lunch. Alhamdulillah atas nikmat persahabatan ini.

 Salah satu menu packed food ketika di Madinah. 

Oren jus yang saya perah sendiri. ;) Masa ni kami banyak dapat buah, banyak yang tak termakan. Jadi penuh peti sejuk dalam bilik. Saya minta izin roommates lain untuk saya jadikan jus oren. Sedap Alhamdulillah. 

Makanan di Restoran Andalus, restoran makanan Malaysia. Puas hati sangat makan di sini. Terubat rindu pada masakan Malaysia. Kami ke restoran ini menaiki kereta milik owner restoran, mereka datang jemput di hotel. Ada yang kata Restoran ni dah tak beroperasi. :'(

Antara usaha saya untuk makan juadah yang terasa 'Malaysia'. Beli roti di kedai runcit sebelah hotel, beli sardin di Mall di Abraj tower. Tambah hirisan bawang pada sardin. Sedap Alhamdulillah. 

Guna buah yang diberi percuma, saya lenyek pisang & kurma dan campur dalam susu. <3

Makan nasi mandy. Untuk takeaway, kami dibekalkan sekali plastik untuk diletakkan nasi atasnya. Jadi makan atas plastik macam shell out. Mudah, lepas makan terus bungkus, meja tak kotor. 

Murtabak versi Mekah. Yang ni kedainya berdekatan dengan restoran Felda D'Saji, Sofwah Towers.

Alhamdulillah, itulah antara makanan yang Allah rezekikan saya untuk merasa di Tanah Suci. Memang saya tak nafikan, soal makan juga menjadi ujian di sana. Ada orang yang langsung tak dapat telan makanan di sana. Ada yang tak berapa berselera makan makanan yang disediakan oleh pihak Tabung Haji, jadi mereka lebih suka untuk beli sahaja di mana-mana restoran di sana. Ada yang boleh makan, tapi kena ada sambal/sos (sebab susah nak jumpa makanan pedas di sana). 

Apapun, pada pendapat saya, sebaiknya kita jaga tutur kata kita tentang makanan ketika di sana. Syukur dengan setiap juadah yang Allah beri. Jika tak boleh diterima tekak, tak perlu makan dan tak perlu mengeji makanan (yang ini, di mana-mana pun perlu dipraktik, ia sunnah). Cuma untuk yang memang suka makanan pedas, bawalah sambal atau sos cili banyak-banyak dari Malaysia. :) 

Kalau anda ada tahu mana-mana restoran best di Tanah Suci (yang kena dengan tekak orang Malaysia), boleh share di bahagian komen. Moga bermanfaat untuk orang lain inshaAllah.

7 Reading Tips for Busy Moms

Reading is not merely a hobby. It’s a need! We read not only for leisure, but to help us to improve ourselves, improve our lives, as well as to gain more knowledge regarding the situation or responsibilities that we currently hold. I keep getting this one same question on how do I find times to read?

So I wanna share here some of the tips that I’ve found & been practicing since a few years back in order to make sure that I have time to read everyday.

1)  Read when your kids are asleep. For example, spend half an hour in the morning to read before they wake up. Believe me, it’s the the best me-time moment to be spent with reading. Or perhaps you can read at night after the kids are asleep. Just a few minutes or pages won’t disturb your sleeping schedule. And it’s a bonus if you breastfeed your baby, because you will have longer time to read. Stop scrolling your instagram/fb feed & start flipping pages to read.

2)  Always have your books in scattered areas around the house. Put a few books at the dry kitchen, a shelf in the living room, a stack beside your bed, or 10 stacks on your working table. This can help you to read at any time even for a few minutes. For example, while waiting for your cupcakes to bake, you can enjoy reading a chapter or two from any books available near you.

3) Never go out without a book in your handbag. If you really want, you will definitely find time to read books. In the car (if you’re not driving), in the train, while waiting for the grab/uber, while waiting for your foods to arrive your table, or while queueing to order your favorite coffee.

4)  Read lots of books at once. Meaning to say, you don’t have to wait till you’re done with one book in order to proceed with another one. (But if you’re reading novels, the game might be a bit different since leaving the book for a long period of time will make you forget the flow of the story). If you ask me, I rarely ready novels or fictional books, so it doesn’t affect me much if I don’t read a certain book continuously till the last page.

5) Read the topic that you really want to know & can apply right away. Hey, do you know that you don’t have to read a book from cover to cover? You can simply look at the content and choose the topic which is new to you, or important for you to know. It will be much better if you read about the stuffs that you can practice right away. Let’s take a parenting book for example; you are in need to know the correct way to deal with your kids tantrum. You can read the topics that are related to your situations or needs only. Because, admit it, you won’t remember the whole book even at the moment you finished reading the last page of it.

6) Make a reading log/diary. Have a list of your “want to read”, “read” & “currently reading”. You can make it online (eg: make an account at Goodreads) or offline (buy a book to jot down your reading journey). Why? Because when you have this log, it can help you to be more motivated to read books. Sometimes it’s not that we’re so busy to read, we just haven’t found the motivation to do so.

7) Find the books that you’re really passionate about. Don’t buy a book just because it’s a bestseller. Buy it if you love it & really excited to read it, doesn’t matter if it’s not a bestseller book. As for me, since I am mompreneur (mom + entrepreneur), my most favorite genres are parenting, entrepreneurship & motivation. So when we already have the book that we really love available near us, it’s not so hard to actually spend time to take the book and read it.

Hope these help! 😄 If you have any tips to add, feel free to drop it the comment section.

From Canada with Love

Bismillah.

Quick update before sleeping. Just wanna make sure that the brand new old story that I heard from Abah yesterday is recorded here. Nothing really, it's just about me when I was a tiny newborn.

We were actually having our dinner when suddenly the topic about going to Korea next year (on February) is being discussed. Ma (my mom) wants to go there badly before my brother who's now studying there graduates & returns to Malaysia for good. Abah said he feels reluctant to go in the current situation where his father is heavily sick. I understand & respect his decision, so Abah suggested me to accompany Ma and I said no problem. Haha. Of course I wanna go there. But! Oh no I forgot that I can't make it as well if the trip is on February. If it's on June and above, inshaAllah I can. But, sobs....

Oh wait, that's not what I wanted to share here! Okay after having a talk about Korea, Abah said that he doesn't really feel excited about going overseas, because when he was younger he already traveled to a few countries & for him it's enough. He told us that he already went to Canada, US, India & Pakistan when we lived in Scotland. Oh I didn't know that? Only heard about Canada but not the other countries.

I felt interested to know about Abah's journeys to those places but one point that really caught my attention is when Abah told me that he got my name in Canada, a friend of his suggested that name to him while he was there. So I asked Abah,

"You weren't there on the day I was born?"

Abah answered,

"Of course I was there, but a few days after you were born, I fly to Canada. Leaving your mom & older siblings in the care of Allah. And only after returning from Canada did I register your name; Sajidah- the woman who prostrates to her God."

Can you guess what is the one point that really makes me amazed & in awe? It's the strength of my mom for being able to handle 3 kids + 1 newborn ALONE in a country far from Malaysia. And to think how she managed to spend the confinement period almost 100% on her own, only with the help from Allah, mashaAllah she's truly an inspiration.

Somehow the story of my dad being absent during the first days of my life, making me feel that I can relate that situation to my current life; the strength that my mom had during those days has actually transferred into myself & maybe that's the reason why I am strong as well. ;) Not praising myself though, it's just that I feel that after getting married and being a mom myself, I have been in lotsa situations where I need to be independent for my daughter & be strong for the sake of my family.

Whatever it is, I feel good to know about that short story from Abah. It really reminds me that I have to be strong & not easily give up because I am the only one responsible to travel my own journey called life.

Sorry this entry is not as short as I thought it would be. 😂 It's already 12am and it's time for me to sleep. Got an appointment tomorrow morning.

Till then, goodnight!

Raising a Young Writer

Bismillah.

Earlier today, I posted a pic of my daughter's first essay. It's about her experience going to the Zoo. I asked her to write what she saw, what she did and with whom did she go there. Apparently she only wrote about the animals that she saw there, PLUS she wrote it in English & some Malay. Hahahah.

She switches code and that's normal for a bilingual kid like her (but she's a trilingual in the making actually). Wait, is it normal? Because I only know that code-switching is normal in verbal conversations, what about in writing? It's okay, it's a learning process anyway.

I am actually trying to teach my daughter to write. I wanna raise her as a good writer. No, not a writer as a job for sure. But I want her to be good in telling/sharing stories, as well as expressing what she feels. I always feel that kids who are good in writing, somehow are well mannered and matured earlier than other kids in the same age but not used to writing.

Do you know Mukhtar, the writer from Pawsome Lion blog? He's a young blogger. If I am not mistaken, he's 11. And he's incredibly well mannered, matured and a good brother to his little siblings. (And I think it has something to do with his writing passion.) Everybody says so, you can follow his family's instagram: @thefamily.uk. They are Malaysians living abroad. Adorable family mashaAllah.

Okay back to the reason why I want my daughter to be good in writing in her early age. For me when someone writes, they need to think and ponder a lot. And in my honest opinion, a good writer is also a good observer.

We don't really have to read too many books in order to start to be a good writer, instead, we need to observe a lot, have ample of life experiences, besides practicing to write and write and write. Writing based on our own experiences will be much more from the heart and helps a lot to write better. However, of course I don't deny the importance of reading a lot to be able to become a good writer.

One of my ways to increase my daughter's interest towards writing is; to buy her a book specially for her to write about anything. Oh can't wait for it!

It's already Maghrib here, so, see you soon!

Cheesie Story

Bismillah.

Hi there. Don't you feel it's weird, that out of the blue, I update my blog like, a lot? Well, it's not that I suddenly got lots of free times. It's just that this one book makes me feel like blogging more & actually try to find time for it. And it kinda makes me reminiscing the time where I was so active in blogspot.

So this is the book;

How I Make A Living Blogging; A Very Cheesie Story

I am not sure why, but the moment I saw this book at MPH a few days ago, it suddenly struck me with an idea that I need to be an active blogger as well! But.... my problem is I don't really share good info here. Please pardon me. I just know that I need to update it & make it as a practice for me to write more and more and more, coz the only best way to be good in writing is to write more.

So I am really very sorry if the content of my blog is not all beneficial and might be filled with crappy personal stories of mine. (Hey, doesn't every good writer start with craps as well?) I just wanna make my blog alive & attractive. Nevertheless, I still hope that even though I write personal daily stories, they will give benefits to some people in some ways. 

I really can't separate myself from Blogger. No matter how many social media accounts that I have created & joined, Blogger is still one of my favourites. It has some sentimental values, and I can say that it somehow defines me. All my blogs, they tell different stories regarding different phases of my life. It's so lovely to be able to walk down the memory lane by reading all my writings one time ago. <3

InshaAllah I won't stop writing as long as I am alive. I am not all the time a serious person, that's why I decided not to share only serious contents here. I hope you enjoy all my writings & thank you so much for still reading my blog. 

Okay, it's already a new day & I can barely hold my eyes open. Goodnight! 

P/s: I still hope Blogger App for iPhone will be launched soon.

Aspuri yang Kurindu

Bismillah.

Rasa nak menulis sedikit tentang sekolah asrama. Saya masuk asrama dari umur 13 tahun. Tapi masa tu cuma asrama sekolah harian, bukan sekolah asrama penuh. Walaupun sekolah tu cuma sekolah harian, tapi ia banyak mengubah saya dari segi kerohanian. 

Di asrama tersebutlah saya mula belajar untuk solat jemaah bersama kawan-kawan, belajar untuk membaca al Quran selepas solat, belajar untuk hadiri kuliah agama di surau, dan di sana jugalah saya belajar untuk amalkan zikir-zikir harian yang menyentuh hati. Semua ini saya tidak belajar di rumah. Mungkin kerana suasana di rumah tak sama dengan suasana asrama yang mewajibkan semua untuk solat jemaah (Maghrib & Isyak). Dan mungkin kerana pengaruh rakan sebaya (yang baik) yang menjadikan saya lebih termotivasi untuk sentiasa perbaiki diri dan buat yang terbaik. 

Di asrama harian ini jugalah saya belajar untuk menjadi imam solat kepada rakan-rakan. Semestinya ia pengalaman baru, dan saya amat hargai nikmat itu semua. Tak sangka walaupun ia cuma sekolah menengah biasa dengan pelajar-pelajar biasa (yang gila-gila pun ramai juga) yang bukan dari latar belakang sekolah agama, tapi terlalu banyak yang saya pelajari tentang perkara kerohanian di situ. 

Ketika di tingkatan 2, saya dilantik untuk menjadi AJK Keceriaan Aspuri. Tapi masuk sahaja tingkatan 3, saya terus diubah Biro; saya dilantik menjadi Penolong Ketua Biro Kerohanian. Kemungkinan ada senior-senior yang melihat saya sering juga menjadi imam waktu solat, jadi mereka rasakan saya sesuai untuk memegang jawatan tersebut wallahua'lam. Selain jawatan tersebut, saya juga dipertanggungjawabkan untuk menjadi Ketua untuk tingkatan 3 bahagian Aspuri. Kalau diikutkan, masih ramai lagi yang layak, cuma saya sejenis yang adakala cuba untuk cabar diri sendiri & beranikan diri untuk memegang jawatan, sebab saya percaya bila diberi tanggungjawab, diri saya akan jadi lebih berdisiplin. 

Gambar kelas tingkatan 3 di STARP, Kulai. 

Agak banyak sebenarnya jawatan yang harus saya pegang ketika tingkatan 3, yang mana semuanya amat membantu saya dalam menjadi seorang yang lebih matang. Jadi tak ada peluang untuk nakal-nakal masa sekolah. ;) Saya seorang pelajar yang biasa sahaja, tidaklah layak untuk bergelar pelajar contoh atau pelajar terbaik dari segi akademik & sahsiah. Tapi mungkin jawatan tu Tuhan beri sebagai cara untuk mendidik saya. Alhamdulillah syukur Tuhan pilih semua itu untuk saya. Memang terlalu banyak perkara yang saya belajar darinya. <3


Dan ketika tingkatan 4, saya mengalami perubahan hidup yang agak drastik selepas memasuki sekolah KISAS. Saya tak nak berbicara panjang tentang perubahan-perubahan tersebut. Sekadar mahu menulis tentang asramanya & apa yang saya belajar dari situ. Di KISAS, saya belajar untuk solat jemaah setiap waktu. Di asrama sebelum ini, solat jemaah hanya Maghrib & Isyak. Di Kisas juga saya belajar untuk melazimi solat sunat Dhuha, zikir pagi petang, serta di situ juga saya belajar untuk solat awal setiap kali masuk waktu. Oh ya, satu lagi perkara baru yang saya belajar di Kisas ialah; memberi tazkirah di hadapan beratus-ratus pelajar termasuk junior & senior. :D

Sahabat sekelas ketika tingkatan 5 di KISAS. 

Terlalu banyak sebenarnya mutiara berharga yang saya pelajari di kedua-dua asrama tersebut, cuma saya tekankan tentang perkara yang berkaitan surau & masjid. :) Memang semuanya itu kenangan yang sangat indah untuk dikenang kembali. Adakala boleh menitis juga airmata kerana merasakan bahawa diri saya yang dulu jauh lebih baik dari diri yang sekarang. Moga ia jadi muhasabah kepada diri saya yang sekarang supaya memperbaiki apa yang kurang inshaAllah. 

Selepas 5 Tahun

Bismillah.

Nak menulis sikit sementara tunggu Maghrib. Tadi baru lepas pergi UIA melepas rindu. Haha takdelah. Sebenarnya pergi sebab ada nak jumpa lecturer dan tujuan paling utama ialah jeng jeng jeng.... Nak buat spek! :p

Sekian lama tak buat spek. Sebab apa? Sebab memang tunggu nak buat kat UIA tu. Kedai lain tak ada ke? Bukan tak ada, tapi setakat yang selama ni survey-survey kat kedai spek kat shopping mall, semuanya tak ada saiz yang dikehendaki iaitu saiz 46. Saiz ni lah yang cun, sebab kalau pakai, tudung tak kembang. Kali terakhir buat spek ialah tahun 2012. Lama kan?

Jadi, bila dah 5 tahun tak tukar spek ni, memang lah spek kelabu sebab kanta dah calar-calar sikit. Sejak setahun dua ni memang kat rumah tak pakai spek langsung walaupun tak nampak mana sangat. Kiri 275, kanan 325. Ada silau 50. Memang tadi dah buat cek mata sekali, sebab orang lain sibuk duk pesan "jangan selalu sangat bukak spek, nanti rabun makin naik." Memandangkan kebanyakan masa duduk kat rumah je, maknanya dalam 24jam tu, peratus waktu tak pakai spek lagi banyak daripada pakai spek.

Yang menariknya, lepas je cek tadi, pakcik kedai tu cakap, power tak naik pun. Hehe. Jadi salahlah cakap-cakap orang tu. ;) Mungkin ada benarnya tapi bukan untuk saya. Apa lagi yang menarik? Saya buat spek baru yang sama bentuk dan saiz dengan yang lama. Haha. Kalau pakai spek baru nanti, memang 99.9% orang takkan perasan saya dah tukar spek. Yang berbeza cuma brand & warna. Warna sebelum ni coklat pekat. Yang baru ni pure black.

Harapnya lepas-lepas ni pun booth spek tu akan sentiasa ada kat UIA tu. Sebab plannya nak buat spek kedua lepas ni. Yang bentuk lain sikit. :)) Harga reasonable, pilihan cantik-cantik, servis bagus, Alhamdulillah. Masa 2012 tu pun memang beli dari booth ni jugak. Moga Allah terus murahkan rezeki booth spek tu Amin ya Rabb.

Ni lah spek nya. Dari 2012-2017. Gambar ni tahun 2013. 

Bengkel Lady Boss

Bismillah.

Saya selalu tulis yang saya tak berapa minat untuk gelarkan diri saya sebagai ladyboss. Saya lebih suka gelarkan diri saya sebagai founder. Kenapa? Mudah saja, bagi saya istilah founder lebih formal, lebih matang & lebih dekat di jiwa saya. Tapi saya tak ada masalah jika perempuan lain gemar gelarkan diri mereka sebagai lady boss. Tidak ada yang salah tentangnya. :) Tapi kenapa saya tulis tajuk ladyboss? Okay, sebab siang tadi saya ada join kelas Lady Boss 101 di bawah kelolaan ABS. Semuanya dari wanita untuk wanita, terutamanya wanita yang perlu menjadi leader dan ada beberapa anak buah di bawahnya untuk dipimpin.

Sekian lama saya tak hadiri sebarang seminar berkaitan bisnes, rasanya lebih setahun juga. Kali terakhir adalah seminar Sifu Fbads sebelum raya tahun lepas. Saya memang nak join seminar lady boss ini sebab saya tahu saya amat cetek ilmu pengetahuan dalam bab menjadi pemimpin. Dari dulu saya ni sejenis yang lebih minat untuk bekerja di bawah orang (menerima arahan) dan bekerja di sebalik tabir. Jadi apabila tiba-tiba saya ada ramai pekerja di bawah saya, saya jadi buntu juga bagaimana cara terbaik untuk menjadi seorang pemimpin yang berpengaruh & ada karisma.

Walaupun bengkel ni cuma 3jam, tapi input yang saya dapat, benar-benar input yang saya perlukan & akan praktikkan semampunya. Yang paling saya suka ialah topik "Karisma Nabi" dan bagaimana kita boleh contohi Baginda Sollallahu alaihi wasallam. Bila penceramah sebut beberapa hadith dan bercerita serba sedikit tentang hadith tersebut, saya jadi sangat teruja, walaupun ada hadith yang memang saya dah tahu, tapi saya tetap seronok & impressed, macam dengar cerita yang pertama kali saya dengar. Subhanallah betapa aura baginda sollallahu alaihi wasallam tak pernah pudar sehingga kini.

Cuma satu je saya nak rumuskan tentang karisma Nabi. Bezanya karisma cari Nabi & Karisma cara barat adalah, Nabi gunakan akhlak & tingkah laku untuk mempengaruhi manusia. Sedangkan karisma barat lebih cenderung menggunakan material untuk menarik orang menyukainya/ terpengaruh. Contohnya bergambar dengan kereta mewah. Nabi tak perlu semua itu, Nabi tak ajar semua itu. 'Kos' karisma Nabi sangat murah & semua orang mampu ikuti; iaitu guna akhlak & peribadi kita. Dalam masa yang sama, cara percakapan & cara berurusan dengan orang di bawah baginda juga turut dibincangkan.

Sebenarnya kita ni amat kurang mengkaji hadith, amat kurang mengaplikasikan hadith dalam kehidupan kita. Kadang-kadang kita fikir, hadith nabi tu adalah sekadar cerita atau kisah zaman lalu. Tapi kita mungkin tak sedar bahawa kisah perang Badar/ Uhud/Khandak ada sesuatu padanya yang kita boleh praktikkan dalam menjadi seorang pemimpin. Boleh jadi juga kita tidak perasan bahawa pada proses penulisan/ pegumpulan alQuran secara berperingkat itu, ada pengajarannya yang boleh kita praktikkan pada zaman ini.

Sungguh saya rindu untuk belajar hadith. Rindu untuk mengkaji hadith, di mana padanya terdapat mukjizat demi mukjizat. Dan padanya juga tersirat hidayah buat manusia yang mencari kebenaran. Betapa ramai lagi sebenarnya yang tidak tahu apa itu hadith? Apa kategori hadith? Bagaimana ulama hadith menentukan taraf hadith? Adakah semua yang dikatakan hadith itu adalah benar-benar sahih dan datang dari Rasulullah sollallahu alaihi wasallam? Semua ini persoalan yang kita perlu jawab dan perlu kenalpasti kenapa masih ramai kurang ilmu tentang apa itu sebenarnya hadith.

Silap besar bila orang fikir bahawa hadith ni hanya untuk pelajar jurusan agama, sedangkan Rasulullah sollallahu alaihi wasallam berkata bahawa hadith tu adalah salah satu daripada dua perkara yang akan menyelamatkan kita dari kesesatan. Maka adakah hanya pelajar jurusan agama sahaja yang perlu selamat dari kesesatan? Semestinya tidak, dan semestinya hadith itu perlu dipelajari & difahami oleh semua yang bergelar Muslim.

Mudah-mudahan satu hari nanti Allah beri saya peluang untuk terus belajar hadith, tak pakar pun tak apa, asalkan saya ada ilmu tentang apa yang diajar dalam hadith & paling penting, saya praktikkan ilmu yang dipelajari itu inshaAllah.

Gambar hiasan: Bilik saya di UIA dahulu, sebagai pelajar jurusan Al Quran & As Sunnah. :)

Lagi Tentang Menulis

Bismillah.

Nak tahu kenapa saya rasa susah sangat nak update blog? Bukan sebab tak ada topik, tapi sebab kalau boleh saya nak tulis di sini tentang sesuatu yang saya tak tulis di tempat lain, yang tak ada di IG, FB atau Twitter saya. Saya cuma nak pembaca rasakan sesuatu sisi yang berlainan tentang diri saya setiap kali mereka baca apa yang saya tulis di sini. :)

Menulis ni kena konsisten, kalau lama tak menulis, memang idea tu rasa berkarat dan bahasa rasa macam tersekat untuk diluahkan. Saya terlalu sukakan menulis, terlalu suka bercerita, kadang-kadang tak fikir pun samada yang ditulis tu bermanfaat untuk orang lain atau tidak. Sesekali memang terfikir untuk menulis hanya yang formal atau ilmiah tapi macam tak jadi diri sendiri pula rasanya. Sebab saya pun suka bercerita tentang pengalaman serta kenangan yang pernah saya alami. :) Asalkan yang ditulis itu bukan sesuatu yang berdosa, inshaAllah tak ada masalah untuk dikongsi. Lagipun, apalagi cara untuk ikat kenangan selain dengan tulisan, kan? Gambar, adakala tak mampu menceritakan segalanya, dan tak membantu meluahkan segalanya yang terpendam. Mungkin sebab tu saya terlalu sukakan menulis. (Dan saya suka orang yang suka menulis). <3

Akhir-akhir ni saya dah mula slow sikit menulis di Facebook. Sebab saya dah jarang sangat buka facebook. Rasa macam serba sedikit dah hilang minat nak scroll Facebook. Mood swing? Oh tak, tapi saya rasa Facebook terlalu penuh dengan kisah fake, kisah yang nak impress orang lain, kisah yang show off, kisah yang entah saya tak berminat untuk baca. Minat saya adalah tentang inspirasi, tentang motivasi, inshaAllah nanti saya bersihkan Facebook saya betul-betul, supaya apa yang keluar di newsfeed saya adalah apa yang benar-benar saya perlu dan mahu baca.

Saya ada terfikir satu topik untuk ditulis di sini. Taknak janji bila saya akan tulis tapi saya cuba secepat mungkin. InshaAllah.

Terima kasih untuk anda yang dari dulu mengikuti penulisan saya. <3

Last Day of January

Finally the 31 days of January has already passed. And now it's going to leave us for a long period of time before it returns. I don't really have any idea of what to write, but I just know that I need to update something here before the month changes to February.

Oh, wait. If I am not mistaken, a few years ago I have written in this blog about my prayer during my 30th birthday. I am gonna screenshot it and paste it down there after a while.

2 years ago.

Alhamdulillah, I think Allah has answered that prayer. He gave me strength though He tested me again and again. And Alhamdulillah those tests had made me grow even stronger. Thank you Allah, for always be there for me, during each & every time I need You... 

I wrote in that post that I pray to be surrounded by the people who love me, but now I think, I don't wanna ask that anymore, I wanna ask Allah to make me appreciate those people who love me. It's okay if the quantity is very little, as long as I value their existences and they can feel my care & love towards them. 

Bye January. See you next year inshaAllah. 

January. I Love January.

I should write more on January. Coz it's my favourite month of the year. Surely because my birthday is on January. But I guess, I am not writing more than this tonight. Haha. Follow my facebook if you wanna see my writings. :)

Need to sleep. Daa.