Saturday, November 24, 2007

getting ready for the next chapter


What a relief that we now know where we will be next year. After weeks of anxiety while searching and interviewing for jobs, Dino has finally secured a consulting job in KL. And although we're having mixed feelings about heading home, I sincerely think that this is the best for us, at least for now. With the job demanding late hours and lots of travelling, I certainly am glad it's based in KL for at least I know I won't be alone.

I can look forward to being close to my family and friends again, to having help with house work, to wearing summer clothes, to mushroom chicken rice in Madam Kwan, to affordable spa trips and jazz nights in Alexis! There are definitely a lot of advantages of going back home, but the things that I don't look forward to is the horrible traffic jam and the lack of safety, which I think do really affect your quality of life. But oh well, I guess in life you can't get everything.

So now, we just have to prepare ourselves for this next chapter, start packing all our wordly belongings that I have somehow collected throughout the year and savour whatever time that we have here. It will certainly be sad to leave this place.

p/s Imran's baju Melayu is a lovely birthday gift from Zeti and Mode - yes, mini-Dino I know! :)





posted by miss-cream @ 3:26 PM 5 comments

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

the birthday party


We celebrated Imran's first birthday last Sunday. Although I had a disaster with my three failed banana cakes (yes, 3!) the evening went on pretty smoohtly and everyone (I hope) had a nice time. The birthday boy surprisingly seemed to have enjoyed himself too, having his house decorated with strings of balloons and getting lots of attention (and presents!) But what made it so special was having his Dadi come all the way from Malaysia just to celebrate his big day with him. 7 days after her last chemo, I can't begin to tell how happy and proud I am of my mum to have made it here to share the big milestone with us.

Of course having Mum is also great in the food department! We made some chicken satays (for the first time of course..) and the peanut sauce was specially made by Imran's great grandma. We also had curry puffs, fried bihun and peanut butter sandwiches for the kids. Although I didn't manage the banana cake in the end, Imran's first birthday cake was a delicious chocolate fondant (which came from a box!) but hey, at least I still made it and decorated it myself!

We gave away goody bags which were handmade by Imran's Dadi, which to me was the most special part of the celebration. My only regret is not taking enough photos, but I'm sure the memories will be stored in my mind for a long time to come.





posted by miss-cream @ 3:11 PM 7 comments