Resting Bitch Face

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, cos this subject has been constantly on my mind. I personally find it extremely insulting to judge a person by its cover. Meaning to judge a person by their face, i.e. to form a quick opinion and judgement based on a facial expression.

Why? Well because it feels like a personal attack. I know very well that I have a Resting Bitch Face (RBF). I don't have a smiley face, hence I come across as very garang and unfriendly. I've had a few friends telling this straight to my face (which I appreciate very much). And honestly? My sullen face doesn't bother me much. (In fact I pretty love it especially whenever Hubby and I come across booths signing people up for credit cards; Hubby always gets approached while everyone tend to stay clear of me!) *chuckles*

I am quite comfortable in my own skin, that I actually don't mind it when my boss calls me out for having a garang face *smiles*

When does it start to bother me? When I hear stories about how people in the workplace (especially the junior ones) shy away from me just because they are too scared to face me. In one extreme, a graduate actually cancelled lunch with a friend, just because my friend said that I was going to join them for lunch! (What's that all about??!!) Like seriously, I don't bite.

I recently had coffee with a friend and he point blank told me, "Liz, you have a garang face while Ms. X has a more pleasant face. Tapi sebenarnya, you lagi baik dari Ms. X!" *rolls on the floor laughing*

On a different occasion, a friend started gossiping about someone new who just came into the company. She said, "Muka dia tak friendly langsung! Sure berlagak tuh." I told her off immediately. Told her that it wasn't nice to make assumptions.

So there you go, my vent about RBF. Honestly ladies, I don't bite.

Salam Ramadhan 2018

Hello everyone! *blows cobwebs away from the keyboard*

Sorry for the quiet hiatus. This pregnancy is making me have absolutely zero interest in anything and everything. Well other than work (cos that pays the bills) and family, of course.

How is your Ramadhan treating you so far? Alhamdulillah for us, it has been quite a breeze although I am bracing myself for the upcoming turbulent period when my helper goes for her annual balik kampung. (She initially wanted to balik kampung later in the year but with the baby coming, she decided to return home earlier cos she expects to have her hands full once baby AY is out!)

This is Aiden's 3rd time attempting to puasa penuh, so far so good. Last year he was extremely cranky during sahur - but surprisingly this time around we don't get so much drama. He doesn't want fancy food during the wee hours of the morning so it's usually ayam Bob, fried egg or roti boom for sahur. As for Ian, he's starting to show interest in fasting (from exposure at the kindy), but still doesn't fully understand the concept - especially since he insists on enjoying food and drinks in front of his brother, much to the chagrin of the latter! *chuckles* In one instance, Ian siap offer food to his Babang, "Babang you want some?" *giggles*

Spiritually, it's slightly different for me this year. Due to the pregnancy, I am already praying guna kerusi, so terawih is slightly challenging especially when the surau/masjid is packed. I've been doing my prayers at home but I look forward to walking to the surau as usual this week, as the crowd usually dissipates by the second Ramadhan week onwards. Other than that, this is my third year wearing a headscarf during Ramadhan so it feels significantly easier for me. The only tricky bit was managing perception at the start, especially as I am in a new role at work. My Upstream peeps are used to seeing me in tudung, but the Downstream folks have never seen me in one. But Alhamdulillah, so far Allah dah banyak permudahkan the transition for me.

In matters of worldly preparations, I am absolutely done with Raya shopping. *pats self on the back* Again, due to the pregnancy, we made it a point to head to Jalan TAR two weeks before the start of Ramadhan. Which was an excellent idea because we ended up making so many stops to eat and drink cos it was so hot! My bulging tummy did not make it easy to shop for clothes (and I didn't bother on tailoring anything to wear only once). In the end I settled on a simple batik long dress from Jakel in peach. Armed with that, we then headed to Masjid India to get coordinating baju melayu for the boys. Recycle songkok and sampin from last year. Settle!

Sneak peak of the boys' outfit - siap ada tag lagi! BTW Ian no longer cries at kindy - it took him a good 4.5 months to cultivate the love of school!

I also bought two new telekung for Ramadhan - one from dUCk (love the bag that comes with it) plus a very comfortable piece from Siti Khadijah. As for the kids, we bought for them new jubahs as well, plus a few pairs of casual baju raya. The only person that I cannot stop shopping for, is for this little princess in my tummy! Oh my gosh - so many cute outfits! I've even had to resort to taking flat lays of her outfits according to size just so I have an inventory of what I've purchased. *shakes head in dismay*

Our first Ramadhan was spent at my in-laws, and then they came over to our house for the second Ramadhan iftar. But the most memorable was the third day; I was so excited to head to Param Seksyen 13 but by the time we arrived, we all got caught in the most horrendous downpour. Even with umbrellas, we were soaked to the bone! Ian clung to Hubby like a koala bear while saying "I want to go home!!!" but by the end of the trip he ended up enjoying the whole affair, jumping into puddles and all. We climbed into the car with wet clothes and our shoes filled with rain water. Absolutely crazy, but oh so worth it - everything we bought (rojak, roti john, akok) was so tasty.

If you're ever in Shah Alam and a big fan of akok, this stall gets two thumbs up from me!

Last Friday, I had the SPK ladies over for iftar. Two couldn't make it while a third was late due to a last minute emergency. It was a potluck affair, so three families feasted over mee kari, daging dendeng, ikan kurau masak lemak nenas, ayam goreng kunyit and sayur buncis goreng. *nyum* This year, my helper's specialty was daging dendeng which was definitely a crowd favourite that night. For dessert, other than kuih melayu we also had a scrumptious birthday chocolate mud cake - interestingly flour-less but very chocolaty!

Birthday cake and present for the birthday girl. Unfortunately no pictures of the food - totally terlupa!

After that, we adjourned into the garden for our yearly tradition - our 7th year writing messages using sparklers! As usual, here is a compilation of our sparkler shots since 2012:

Seven years in a row... and counting!

Unfortunately we didn't get it right on the first try. My trusty Samsung camera is starting to give me problems *cries* so a lot of fiddling with the settings and shutter speed before we finally got it right.

A new try for us this year - writing in jawi! I nearly peed in my pants with this one. To write 'ya' we had to enlist a husband's help to do the double dots at the bottom - literally cium buntut bini! *rolls on the floor laughing*

Behind the scenes.

Phewww... that's a long enough update, I think. To my Muslim readers, I wish you all a blessed Ramadhan, and selamat berpuasa! And hopefully I get my blogging mojo yet again. *chuckles*