Sofhiaa

Hubby and three of his (male!) friends recently embarked on a new journey. InsyaAllah, this new business partnership will be ready to be revealed by Ramadhan. As his wife, I am merely the cheerleader, supporting him from behind. Hence last week, I was right by his side while they were doing the product photoshoot. (And also to keep an eye on my handbags which were used for the day! *chuckles*) 

But seriously, I am supremely impressed by the amount of effort and dedication that these men have poured into making Sofhiaa a reality. Through their numerous brainstorm sessions, they managed the fabric and embellishment source, packaging design, printing, labeling, pricing, advertising and juggled many many other factors that are able to make or break a business. The only time I lifted a finger to help was when I came up with the name of the business and composed the words for their Thank You card.

Here are a couple of pictures that I managed to take during the photo shoot. (Okay fine, pictures of my handbags in action, instead!)

I am never one to make flatlays. Can you believe that this shot was styled by dear Hubby?

Hubby reviewing the shot.

Love how the gold and pink complemented each other.

Demure in turquoise and white.

Electric blue is always a favourite.

And my personal favourite, the tiffany blue.

The dream team; turning dreams into reality!

If you are itching to find out what Hubby and friends have in store, add them on Instagram: @sofhiaacouture. Happy styling!

Farewell May

I know, I know. I've been rather quiet in May. April was quiet due to the preparation for Aiden and Ian's birthday. So what's my excuse for May?

Truthfully, I've been busy with work. With the kick off of the first offshore campaign just a week ago, I've been busy firefighting last minute issues left right and center. I've even succumbed to synchronizing and pushing my work emails to my personal phone (which I suspect is the reason for the iPhone crash) because at this critical point of the project, people just can't wait overnight for an email response. Not only that, I'm due to mobilize for the second offshore campaign soon too. With the way things are progressing, hopefully I'll get Ramadhan onshore but will probably be spending the bulk of Syawal month offshore! *cries*

So other than the phone wipe-out, here are the highlights of May:

• My eldest brother visited from US. He had a pleasant surprise for us (biarlah rahsia dulu) and in return we treated him to Fatty Crab and durians. It's been quite a while since the whole family gathered, so of course we couldn't resist taking a sibling photo.

• A fellow gang pagar sekolah invited us for her daughter's wedding. We enjoyed the event very much, but the kids enjoyed it even more. They literally took over the photo booth. Here are some hilarious snapshots of the boys (and us!) posing.

• Ian absolutely loves Angry Birds, so I took the boys out for the Angry Birds movie. I went in with extremely low expectations, expecting to just act as chaperon, playing with my phone to kill time. But surprisingly, I enjoyed myself! Believable plot and smart humor. Now I understand why the birds are so angry with the pigs! Ian sat engrossed in his seat for the entire two hours, and as the credits rolled he asked, "ann mowe tyme??" (One more time?) *giggles*

• Last but certainly not least, the SPK gang had our last dinner out before Ramadhan. We chose to have buffet at Makan Kitchen, Doubletree by Hilton. It was also Ayu's birthday and yours truly was tasked with finding her a present. I scratched out branded toiletries and an Arzu scarf before finally deciding on a Chanel lip gloss. Here is a photo of Aiden and Ian making themselves at home at the Chanel cosmetics counter, and some photos from the night.

Here's to welcoming June!

The White Screen of Death

Bad news. My iPhone 6 Plus crashed.

I was rather gullible that night. Ian started groveling for the phone, putting his sad face on my lap. So I caved in, despite my battery being super low. The next thing I knew, the phone died and Ian was pissed. I plugged the phone into the charger and left it be.

Unfortunately ten minutes later, I found that it was frozen on the white screen with the black Apple logo. All attempts to reboot, hard reset etc didn't resolve it. I panicked! Hubby suggested that we leave the phone plugged to the charger overnight and hopefully it will magically turn on by the time we wake up. I was sooooo worried... So worried that it even played into my dreams! Three separate distinct dreams about me trying to revive the phone, the repercussions of the dead phone and the worry that clouded my mind.

Why was I so worried you ask? Because the last time I backed up my phone was nearly 2 years ago. *hidesinshame* #noidontuseicloud

Comprehending my worry, now?

The white screen of death.

Despite my super bad mood the night of the incident, sweet Hubby still accompanied me to the iPhone repair shop the very next day. Three possibilities for the cause of the white screen, affectionately known as 'The White Screen of Death'. One, faulty battery. Two, crashed system. And three, motherboard failure. They quickly ruled out battery issues so they tried wiping out and reinstalling the system to check if that was the cause. Fortunately, it solved the issue. Cheap solution too, as a motherboard failure would probably cost four digits to repair. But somewhat unfortunate, cos my worse dreams came true. They couldn't save any of the data inside my phone. There goes all the pictures, contacts and yummy recipe notes I made. *sigh*

However, I am thankful for some things.

1. The last time I copied all my iPhone photos to my laptop was just before we left for Sabah. Hence Aiden and Ian's birthday party photos were safe and sound, and only the photos taken post end April were gone.
2. A neighbour had a nano SIM card adapter readily available, so I was able to use my tablet as a temporary 'phone' throughout the entire ordeal.
3. My last back up contained the bulk of my contacts so at least I wasn't starting from scratch, albeit it being two years too late. (Even my new boss' number wasn't listed and whatsapp flagged him as a spam contact when he tried messaging me! *giggles*)

Restoring from a back up dated 9th Oct 2014. *double sigh*

Soooo hard lesson learnt. Use iCloud wisely and be disciplined at backing up your phone. Need I say more?

Why the Hike in Electricity Bill?

Hubby, who is responsible for the bills around the house, has been lamenting for quite a while about the gradual hike in our monthly electricity bill. Since the money for the bill does not come from my pocket, I usually choose to conveniently shut one ear. *giggles*

Unfortunately, the hike apparently really bothered Hubby; to the point that he started unplugging every single electrical appliance around the house (save for the fridge) when not in use. Not just turning it off, but removing the socket from the electrical wall outlet too! Uurrggghhh… do you know how frustrating it is to have to crawl over and under various pieces of furniture just to plug the TV or the phone charger socket back into the wall… every single day???

In reality, all appliance plugged in will bleed some energy. This is typically called standby electricity loss as it is often associated with electronics in idle or standby mode. Unfortunately for Hubby, what we saved from just unplugging our appliances wasn’t significant enough to make a huge difference in our electricity bill. (But still, kudos to him for trying!)

Since then, he has shifted his energy (pun intended) to isolating other main contributors to the bill – in this case the air conditioner. Due to the recent hot and dry spell, we have had to rely on air conditioners to cope with the unbearable heat. Nowadays, we have to turn on both air conditioners at the ground floor (as opposed to one) just to cool the area. Not only that, we’ve resorted to lowering the temperature settings, increasing the fan speeds and using it for longer periods too. Hence, if we do not find a way to reduce our air conditioner use, it will always be the main culprit for the spike in our monthly electricity consumption, translating to a hike in our electricity bill. (Well, either that or Malaysia freezes over, in which case we will need heaters!)

Tenaga Nasional Berhad recently released a cool series of videos on helping us save our electricity consumption by utilizing some useful energy efficiency tips. And here are some tips related to air conditioners that I got from the TNB Energy Savings at Home website, which I subsequently shared with dear Hubby:

Keep your air conditioner filter clean to allow it to run efficiently and save more (and sweat less)!

Set your air conditioner between 23-25degC for optimum coolness with higher savings.

Set your air conditioner timer to switch off a few hours after you’ve fallen asleep to be more energy efficient.

Ensure doors and windows are closed when using the air conditioner, to help the room cool faster.

Also, some other tips that were quite an eye opener for me too:

Even if you’re a supermom, sometimes it pays to hold off the washing. Wait until you have a full load of laundry to reduce usage of the washing machine.

De-clutter your fridge to allow cool air to circulate more efficiently.

Choose a cold wash over a hot wash, as the latter makes the washing machine work harder.

Check out TNB’s other bright ideas by visiting this link. There are also a total of 20 energy efficiency tips on their website, which will definitely help you take a chunk off your monthly electricity bill. 

Good luck!