She told herself that one day she will don the Hijab and she will do it after…:

“I will do it after I finish JC..”
“I will do it once I enter NIE…”
“I will do it once I graduate from NIE..”
“I will do it on my first day as a teacher…”
“I will do it once I get married…”
“I will do it once I have a baby…”
“I will do it when I turn 25..”
“I will do it during Ramadhan..”
“I will do it on New Year..”

Alas she said: “I have accepted that there will never be a perfect day….that right moment.”

How true her words are. There can never be a right moment for donning the Hijab and I would have been in the same position, always procrastinating if not for my parents. Especially my very strict father.

I used to think that my youngest sister had it the easiest as she went to a Madrasah and all, if not, most of her friends wears the tudung.

Whereas I went to circular school and was wearing short skirts for more than 10 years of my life. Transitioning from the short school skirt to the tudung was never easy.

When I wanted to go out with my friends, I always argued with my mum why I had to wear the tudung. I never understood this compulsory obligation.

I wanted to feel the wind in my hair, dress as how my peers dressed back then. Heck, I even envied them sometimes. Furthermore, I always thought to myself that I was too young to be wearing one. I thought that maybe one day when I am much older and wiser, I will take the initiative of wearing the tudung myself. Alhamdulillah that didn’t happen.

Instead, I bit my tongue and continued wearing the tudung even though sometimes I was reluctant to. I even heard plenty of jokes around me about women wearing the Hijab or tudung but that never faltered me.

One of the reasons why I rarely faltered was because my very strict parents enforced it on me and my sisters. On top of that, most of female cousins wears the tudung as well. They were my pillar of support and never made one of us feel awkward about our tudung insecurities.

Finally, my numerous trips to the Holy land, Makkah, sealed the deal.

Now, I wouldn’t want to wonder what would or could have happened or how different my life would be had I not continue to wear the tudung.

Today I embrace this obligation of Allah’s with open arms as not many people are given the Hidayah to fulfill this obligation. But that doesn’t mean I can’t observe this obligation fashionably and stylishly. Hehe.

Shawl from Magnifique Closet | Sleeveless dress from Mod Cloth | Denim Jacket from Bershka | Pants from Uniqlo | Flats from Tory Burch | Agnes B Tote

I am finally here thanks to my very strict parents. My father may not read this but my mum sometime does. Mak and Abah, I am who I am because of the two of you and I am thankful for all the things you’ve done for me. I can never repay the sacrifices you’ve made.

I’ve got it covered. When will it be your turn?

P.S. Ms Nura J, if you’re reading this, you’re looking great and may Allah continue to bless us with his Rahmat and keep us on the right path. Amin!

Tis the wedding season and there’s a few weddings I’ve been invited to. And also since my very own sister’s wedding is coming up in the next couple of weeks, I thought I shall blog about weddings.

I am indeed very weird. I did not blog about my own wedding – although I did attempt to blog about it – read the stories here, here, and here. Now I am blogging about the wedding of others.

I’m not really going to blog about others’ weddings but about my own wedding. Argh! I confuse myself.

I mean what happens if I could get married all over again – to the same man.

When I was preparing for my very own wedding last year, I didn’t really think too much about it, I just went with the flow. I let my parents decide on most of the major stuff such as venue, food, and such.

Even my henna designs weren’t picked by me as they were gifts from a dear friend.

If I had it my way, my wedding would have been a small, short, and sweet affair, with close friends and relatives. But since I’m the eldest of five daughters, I had to accomodate my parents wishes.

My mum did tell me that when she got married in the early 80s, my late-grandmother, planned everything for her and that she was told to follow what the elders had in store of her. She said she had to go through 12 outfit changes – that was the trend during that time – for nikah (solemnisation), photoshoot, and reception.

I was lucky that my wedding only consists of five outfits and I was able to pick and choose all five. I picked them according to my family and husband’s heritage as a tribute to our families. So there was the Malay traditional outfit – songket kebaya, Arabian style jalabiya and thope, Indian gaghra and sherwani, and the western wedding gown and suit. A total of five outfits for our two and half days wedding affair.

But if I really had my way and our wedding was only for a day, I would have worn, all the traditional outfits rolled into one.

Hmmm… Now let’s imagine the rolled-into-one kebaya, gaghra, and jalabiya as my outfit. I’ll probably use songket as my main material, with lots of beading.

The outfit will be a modern mini kebaya top made from songket like this one below, although this top is not a mini kebaya top.

Then the bottom will be a heavy beaded gaghra skirt just like the one below.

And finally a flowy-kaftan overlay made from chiffon like this jalabiya.

That will be my solemnisation outfit.

As for the reception dress, I will wear a gown inspired by Grace Kelly – exactly like what Malaysian blogger, Adriani Adnan, wore for her wedding. But instead of pink, or cream, my dress will be a shade of pastel yellow – my favourite colour!

Photos:  Adriani Adnan and Google

And a classic pin-up makeup to match. Just like this one!

Photo: makeupbycrystalS.blogspot.com

As for the groom, hmmmmm…. he’s just there to go along with the ride. LOL! So since my husband is Indian, he’ll wear the traditional Indian sherwani for solemnisation, and the boring suit/tuxedo with a pastel yellow satin tie for our reception.

But in reality, this was what we wore for our wedding.

Solemnisation outfit

Malay traditional outfit

Jalabiya and Thope (Arab outfit)

Gaghra and sherwani (Indian traditional outfit)

Wedding gown and suit

Maybe I should just keep this idea for my future daughter and in turn will plan her wedding like what my mum did for me and her mum for her.

As most of you know, just two weeks ago, Muslims all around the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr to mark the ending of the holy fasting month – Ramadhan.

This year’s Eid al-Fitr is a bitter-sweet affair. I lost both my grandmothers within a span of one year and thus, for this Eid, we only spent time at my parents, Fai’s parents, and his granduncle’s.

And even though we lost a few loved ones along the way, our family still grew – just days before Eid, one of my cousins gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

Also this year, Rania, the little Queen, who is also Fai’s niece is back for good.

There’s also Ibrahim Taro, another cousin’s little boy – who celebrated his first Eid.

With so many little children around, Eid definitely is an exciting family affair – loads of feasting and screaming.

with Arina Akari – Ibrahim’s older sister, doing a goofy look

This is Asyura, all dolled-up in a pair of sunnies, white baju kurung, and a matching flower hair clip.

Of course, Eid is also about clothes and for this year’s raya, me and Fai chose the colour Yellow – my favourite colour.

Okaylah, so our outfit for Eid is a shade of orangey-Yellow.

So it’s more orange. Yeah yeah!

But seriously everyone, do not forget about the true meaning of Eid – a celebration of relationships and victory.

Once again, Selamat Hari Raya, Eid Mubarak, and Salam Aidilfitri – Minal Aidil Wal Faizin.

We turned one year last July 22. No, I’m not referring to this super outdated blog. I’m talking about our marriage — my marriage to Fai. It has been exactly one year and 21 days since we tie the knot on July 22, 2010.

What is a marriage without all the fights and drama? It has been a roller-coaster ride indeed. Imagine having to move out of your parents and in with your in-laws.  In an instant, you have to grow up.

It was hard at first for me. Adapting and adjusting. My in-laws place was just too quiet. I missed my crazy sisters. How they would shout for someone to pick up the phone — cause we’re just too lazy to walk to the phone. The banging of doors and the ‘salams’ when one comes back home from work or school. Nothing of that sort can be heard at my in-laws.

Thankfully for me, Fai’s cute little niece Rania was around for the first few months. Her presence kept me sane. She’s the most adorable thing.

Now a year has passed and I’m eagerly waiting for the return of the little queen as I dubbed Fai’s niece. This is our second Ramadhan together and with God’s grace, we will be celebrating our second Syawal together.

To commemorate our first wedding anniversary, we did a little photoshoot. Fai has grown quite a bit in size — just compare them with the one above. Haha.

He says he’s just too happy and I feed him too much. I don’t even cook very often! -_-

Okay, so I digress. Back to the photoshoot, we engaged the services of Syukri from Pixareuz Photography. And even though we were late, he waited patiently for us and gave a wonderful service. He made us recap how we met and how we got together — that was embarrassing! But most importantly, he made us remember why we’re with each other and what matters most to the two of us.

And although I started the day slightly annoyed at my husband but at the end of the whole photoshoot, I had a memorable anniversary albeit belated.

InsyaAllah, the photoshoot will be an annual affair. A celebration of love, friendship, and trust!

Now that our first year is over, we are ready to start a family. Hopefully I can get pregnant during or before our second honeymoon in December. Yup! We’re heading to Europe end of this year. Wish us luck!

And YES! We are in the midst of trying for a baby. Apparently, it is not as easy as it seems. So pray for us too that we will conceive a healthy and handsome/beautiful little thing.

Before I sign off, here’s our wedding highlights from last year. Hehee..

Our Wedding Highlights from CinematicLens on Vimeo.

Photo: Credits goes to the owner (whoever you are)

You see, the last couple of months have been really hectic. A lot has happened. Both my maternal grandparents passed away within weeks of each other, I performed Umrah with Fai and his mother, turned 27, contracted bronchitis which led to asthma, did epi-lasik and watched the last Harry Potter instalment.

So, let’s start from the beginning shall we? I was down and out with a very bad cough since May. It evolved later on (two months later) and I was told to use the ventolin inhaler.

In the midst of the very bad cough, one of Fai’s good friend got married and so we were busy with that.

That same week, my maternal step-grandfather passed away. We buried him the next day. The atmosphere was sombre and it didn’t get any better.

Right after we buried him, I received a call from my mother informing me that my maternal grandmother (Ustazah Chik S. Othman), who’s been suffering from Alzheimers, cancer, and later on we found out Parkinsons disease, was in critical condition. My heart sank.

The timing couldn’t be any worse. We were just days away from our Umrah trip. I thought of cancelling my trip but my parents advised me otherwise.

During our whole umrah trip, I prayed that my beloved grandmother stayed a little longer. I prayed that she waited for two of her eldest grandchildren to come back before she blew her last breath.

My prayers were heard. I received good news from my mum and uncle. Her condition stablised.

I was happy once again. But it was shortlived.

Upon our arrival in Singapore, the first news I received was a condolence text message from a colleague at work. I thought it was over the passing of my late step-grandfather and I brushed it aside.

The next message that I read came from my sister. My beloved maternal grandmother passed away that morning (exactly two weeks after the passing of my step-grandfather).

I was crushed and couldn’t function properly. I just wanted to be with her.

Alhamdulillah, I was able to see her and even managed to participate in her last bathing ritual. She was 74.

Sadly, my fourth sister who was in the US, working, could not make it.

I shall forever remember the date of her passing. She left this world exactly a day after my birthday.

Yup! So this year, I turned 27 while still in the holy land – Makkah. And due to unforseen circumstances, my birthday celebration was postponed.

It wouldn’t look nice celebrating my birthday while everyone else around me was grieving. On top of that, my cough became worse and I was down with fever. How to have fun? This lasted the entire month of June and the first week of July.

I completed at least four bottles of cough syrup and drank only warm water with honey.

When I finally recovered, I decided to take the plunge and go for an epi-lasik surgery. Initially, I was afraid I might regret that decision, especially during the first couple of weeks.

So my last few days was spent recuperating.  But I still managed to catch the last instalment of Harry Potter with my sisters, mum, and husband — even it means going out with bloody eyes.

And now, we’re here! We’re into our second week of the holy fasting month. Alhamdulillah.

I promise, I shall be more hardworking when it comes to this blog.

To those people who have sent in press releases, press kits, and samples, I am truly sorry for not updating them. I’ve been really busy, sick, and sad.

But I promise you, they will be up pretty soon. So stay tuned!

Until then, chat with us via our Facebook page and Ramadhan Kareem to all! :)

Congratulations to Pep Guardiola & Johan Cruyff’s La Masia for creating & continuing the perfect European Team Barcelona. All praise to Barcelone for the flawless style & class when they demolished Manchester United 3-1 with magical goals by Messi & Villa. Special praise to Pedro who was for me the unsung hero that certainly knew how to pick immaculate runs into the box and exploit spaces. Pedro indeed is going to be a star of the future.

However, I am more annoyed at Fergie. I am not a Man United fan -  more like an Anti-Man U fan. But I am still rooting for the English team (Blame the Colonial legacy in Singapore) & found it irritating that Fergie actually could have challenged & may have won the match.

Fergie deployed a 4-4-1-1  formation.

Van der Sar

Fabio  Ferdinand  Vidic  Evra

Valencia  Carrick  Giggs  Park

Rooney

Hernandez

I thought he got it correct with Valencia, Fabio & Hernandez. However, i really disapproved the choice of Carrick & Giggs in the middle. Carrick to me was a disappointment this season whereas Giggs is currently having the affair scandal. Furthermore, why i didn’t agree with this formation was that Fergie should have taken Mourinho’s tactics by playing a defensive midfielder (DM) to disrupt Messi. One has to realise that Barcelona plays without a striker. More like a 4-1-2-3-0. Thus, it was important to crowd out the midfield. If Fergie was a little more adventurous, he could have deployed a sweeper from the 80′s tactics. However, this would be my suggested tactic for Man United.

I would suggest a 4-2-3-1 formation or 4-5-1.

Van der Sar

Fabio  Ferdinand  Vidic  Evra

Scholes  Anderson

Valencia  Rooney  Nani

Hernandez

Let’s overlook the poor performance of Valencia, Evra & Hernandez. We wouldn’t have thought they would severly underperformed in this match. Why Scholes & Anderson in the centre rather than Carrick & Giggs? Well Giggs is a brilliant player but he certainly isn’t the best passer as Scholes that is able to dictate the tempo. Anderson is needed to give the dirty edge as Pepe did also thanks to his high aggression & stamina to stamp out Messi. I chose Nani over Park as I believe you needed class instead of mindless running. Nani is a World Class player and he could have been the extra spark to support Rooney. It could have paint a different picture.

If we had the foresight to know that Valencia, Evra & Hernandez would have underperformed. This would be the other team that I would have suggested.

4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 (Foresight Team)

Van der Sar

Fabio  Ferdinand  Vidic  Evra

Scholes  Anderson

Nani                 Rooney             Giggs

Berbatov

This new team may had a chance over Barcelona but it would have been with negative tactics similar to that of Greece ala European Championship 2004. All in all, Barcelona still is the best attacking team in the world.

The Season began with a bang as Chelsea were hitting strong strides from their previous form as last season’s Champions. In reality, Man United have been mediocre but hitting the kind of efficiency as seen in Mourinho’s teams. However, as the season wore on deficiencies in Chelsea and Arsenal showed why they can’t be Champions. Also, it showed the rise of a new superpower that is Man City. But first, let’s talk of Man United.

Congratulations to Man United and Sir Alex Ferguson. He was able to rebuild a winning team to prise the title away from Chelsea. Unlike the Ronaldo years where Ferguson relied heavily on Ronaldo to lead them to glory, the Man United of today is a far more balanced team of a nice mix of experience and youth with players like Scholes, Giggs, Van der Sar and Ferdinand to lead Hernandez, Smalling, Fabio & Raphael. Ferguson has mixed flair of Berbatov, Giggs, Nani, Park Ji-Sung & Valencia with a strong defence like Vidic, Ferdinand and Van der Sar and efficiency like Scholes, Evra, Fletcher & Rooney. Also, special thanks to strong back up like Smailling, Hernandez and Evans.

Praise to Ferguson for meeting his promise of kicking Liverpool off their mighty perch. But, I have to admit that he had brilliant support from the management. Ferguson was given time and freedom to build the team. If Ferguson was to begin his career with the current Chelsea, I think he would have been sacked in 2 seasons. Something that most clubs like Chelsea need to learn is to give the manager time to build the team.

Chelsea floundered this season as the lack of back up from the sales of Carvalho & Ballack cost Ancelotti the title when Lampard, Essien, Alex, Drogba & Terry all faced injuries. Players like Kalou & Mikel certainly has not been up to the mark. Furthermore, the purchase of Torres disrupted the rhythm of team and a lack of investment in squad depth players proved to be Ancelotti’s downfall as he was sacked after his last match.

Arsenal on the other hand was another matter. After 6 seasons trophyless, Wenger was looking forward to proving the critiques wrong. And initially they did as he had the opportunity of a Quadruple with the Carling Cup, League, Champions League & FA Cup. On the brink of winning the Carling Cup, Arsenal once again self-exploded all thanks to the help of Obafemi Martins that won Birmingham their Cup (On a side note, they will be the first team to play in the Europa League while also being relegated and playing in the Championship). After, the self belief of the team simply was decimated as they lost to Barcelona and thrown away all their titles. Who is to blame? Well, my finger is pointing at Wenger. He has done grievous mistakes by not buying an accomplished goalkeeper, having a shaky defence (Cahill would have been a good cover), a solid midfield (Scott Parker will definitely add steal to the team) and a striker to help out whenever Van Persie gets injured. However, they should not sack Wenger. He is a brilliant manager who just needs to buy 3 players.

On a side note, Congratulations to Tottenham and Liverpool. Although both teams wished not to be in the Europa League as it will lead them away from the ultimate goal of the Premier League and Champions League. Liverpool will be happy as they will avoid the distraction of Europe and fully concentrate on the League. Tottenham on the other hand has to enter the Europa League thanks to their Fair Play Performance. A 6th position would have meant a shorter holiday and so Harry went over and grabbed the 5th position from Liverpool.

So what’s in store for next season? Well Ferguson will have his hands full trying to win the Champions League from Barcelona this season. But for next season, he will have a bigger headache facing Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea. Out of the mix, i think Liverpool and Man City will be the force to be reckoned with. Liverpool look stable under Daglish while City will hope that Mancini finds the right notes to win the title. Chelsea will be out unless more investment in the team and a wonderful tactician like Van Gaal or Hiddink. Tottenham may run out of steam once again unless they buy a proven striker and central defender. Arsenal could prove to be Champions if Wenger finally breaks his policy and break the bank to buy a keeper, central defender and striker.

I myself am eagerly awaiting for next season and indeed hope it will be as exciting as this season.

Picture: Wallpapers Buzz

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish our Chinese friends a prosperous Lunar New Year! Happy New Year y’all!

Welcome to the year of the bunny.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

I kept a list of things to do and it was constantly by my side. I was constantly checking, ticking and re-checking things on my list. I also made itineraries for everyone, including one for the groom himself. Haha.

And then, I emailed them out to the wedding photographer, videographer and even the wedding registrar. The itineraries was also turned into two posters which M volunteered to design.

I wanted a simple and clean poster.

The idea behind the poster is to inform guests about the programme rundown. This way, guests will know what time the bride and groom will be entering the hall and when is the next outfit change.

Amidst all of that, I also got in touch with the car rental company which we hired during our honeymoon in Bandung and confirmed our booking as well as flight details for our arrival pick up.

Meanwhile, Fai was taking it slow. Well, it seemed that way anyways.

And as days passed, the knots in my stomach worsened. At work, all I could think of was the wedding and what will happen if things were to go wrong.

I was filled with mixed emotions. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I was so nervous I had fever on the day of our final fitting – two days before the wedding. Thank GOD! the fever subsided the next day.

I was well enough to sit still for a few hours while two lovely ladies drew henna on both my hands and legs.

Noticed how the carpeted floor was covered by newspapers? My mum would scream if there’s henna stain on her precious rugs.

Henna was of course sponsored by M. My lovely sisters, girlfriends, nieces, cousins, aunts and mum all had henna drawn on their hands too – this was sponsored by me.

The henna session was filled with music, laughter and a lot of squeezing axe oil (minyak kapak) onto my palm to darken the henna colour. This resulted to insomnia and it was the night before our wedding. Oh well, I was too nervous and excited to sleep anyway.

After: My henna-decked hands

The extra pair of hands belongs to my two dearest bridesmaids

Indians believe that the darker your henna, the more loving your husband will become. Hope so too. Hehee…