Happy Birthday To Me :D

Today is my 33rd birthday :). Dozens of friends wished me Happy Birthday yesterday since it was already 11th Nov in Malaysia. Lucky me, I had 2 days to celebrate, hehe..

Tonight, my hubby brought us to Red Lobster in order to celebrate the happy occasion. 33rd!!!Gosh..am I THAT old? Haha...LOL. Anyway, before going there, he called our son, Harith to the room while I was still surfing the Net. I heard them hush-hushed but never bothered to look as it was a normal scene between those 2 boys. Suddenly Harith came out and gave me a Sponge Bob card. Wow :) Dear hubby got the card for him as the kids' gift to me and he coached Harith to write the notes in the card.

Click at the card to view Harith's message :)

We reached Red Lobster around 7.30 p.m. Since it was a Seafood restaurant, we have no problems with the Halal status. We ordered Steamed Clam for appetizers, Popcorn Shrimp and French Fries for Adik and Abang, Big plate of Lobster+Crab+Shrimp for hubby and Smoke-grilled Lobster+Shrimp+Scallop for me. Both of us had Mix Salads with Thousand Island dressing and Mashed Potatoes for side dishes.

Salad

Appetizer

Kids' Meal

Abah's Meal (ni dah kena makan separuh baru ingat nak amik gambo :P)

Ummi's Meal

The food was fantastic! It was so yummylicious. But the portion was quite big, though. Biasak la kan...saiz orang putih. I was so full, but the desert menu looked so inviting that I had to have one of those. So, I ordered this:

This was so sinfully delicious, Chocolate cake with thick chocolate sauce and chocolate chips, served with Vanilla ice-cream....Yummyyy. Hannah enjoyed the cake so much.
Habislah...sure malam ni Ummi takleh tido sebab Adik Hannah dah jadi
very very the hyperactive.

We took some pictures at the restaurant.

Hannah was so engrossed with her drawing.

Harith was goofying around as usual.

Our little family, The Zulkifli's

Abah and his precious princess, Nurhannah Nadia.

Abang and Adik in front of Red Lobster.

We went home so full that I felt like my stomach would burst! Huhuhuhu....

As I walked out from the car, dear Hubby surprised me with another gifts...a bag of Chocolate and a card. :) Thank you Honey...it was so unexpected and so not him (he's not so much into cards, so all the sweeter and more memorable). Hehe..he said another gift is on its way in the mail, he ordered something for me from the internet...want to know what it is? ;)

Click at the cards to view the sweet message ;)

This has been the best birthday so far. I feel so blessed.

"Dear Allah....Alhamdulillah. Thank you for all your gifts to me. Thank you for giving me 33 years of good life and good health. Thank you for giving me a wonderful husband and great kids. Thank you for surrounding me with good friends and families. I pray that we would always be in Your blessings and You would always show us the right path. Amin Ya Rabbal Alamin."

Weekend in Las Vegas and The Lost of A-Tom :(

Last Saturday, we went to the City of Lights - Las Vegas. Dear hubby has promised to take us there since we arrived here, but only managed to make it this weekend. Co-incidentally, I met a fellow Malaysian in CARI forum who lives in Las Vegas. She invited us to stay at her house. So, apa lagi kan..bagaikan orang mengantuk disorong bantal..kecik tapak tangan, kawah besar kami tadahkan, haha..

We left Torrance around 9a.m. The journey took around 4 hours plus. Made a quick stop at Primm because the kids were hungry. Arrived at Nita's house at around 1.45 p.m. Although it was the first time we met, we immediately warmed up and clicked. She's one gracious hostess. Nasi ayam dah sedia menunggu. Dear hubby and I were famished, so tanpa segan silu, kami pun mentekedarah, heeee.....

With our hostess, Sharifah Nita and her kids, Aizad and Alesha.

Later in the evening, we went out to experience Las Vegas's night life. True to its name, Las Vegas IS the City of Lights, which never sleeps! Throngs of people hopping from one casino to the other, I'm sure most of them came with a big hope that they will hit big time. Parked our car at MGM Grand Casino..took a look around, and hopped in to take the monorail. The monorail tracks cover almost every big casino in Vegas, with 5 stops in between. Some of the famous casinos are The Venetian, Caesar's Palace, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Harrah's, Bally's, New York New York, Circus Circus and the list goes on and on and on. We walked around in some of the casinos. At first, it was a bit akward since I was wearing Hijab, but nobody cared. Everybody was busy paying attention to their own games. So I just buat bodoh aje la kan. We didn't gamble of course..but there's nothing wrong with looking on, so we did just that. But not for long anyway, because Under 18 are not allowed to stand beside a table. (ni utk Hannah dan Harith laa). Here's a few pix.

A replica of Status of Liberty in front of New York New York

Harith's posing inside Harrah's. Actually we are not allowed to take a pix inside casino but we managed to snap one pix. Hehe..

Replica of Venice river at The Venetian

Sir Elton John, Bette Midler and Cher are performing at Caesar's Palace.

Yours truly in the lobby at Caesar's Palace.

There's a big musical fountain in front of The Bellagio. I took a video of it, but it's taking too long to upload here. Here's the static pix instead.

One of the many places in the world that I wanted to go was here. It's Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. There are only a few of Madame Tussaud's in the world, i.e: London, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Berlin...I've always wanted to go to the one in London, but since we were there in Las Vegas, then a trip inside the museum was a MUST. It's located just next to The Venetian. The ticket price was reasonable..19USD per person for couples, and free for children ages 6 and below. Perfect! So, got our tickets and excitedly wandered inside. All of us (sebenarnya makpak yang lelebih) had fun posing with the celebrities, hehe.. You can see from the pix belows. Anyway, I found that the art was truly amazing. They really do look like real people that sometimes I got confused whether it's the real thing or the dummies. The eyes look real, and they shine! One particular dummy of Matthew Macoughney, his eyes actually twinkles when you look long and hard into them. I'm not sure how the interactive technique works, but it was sure damn impressive!

With my High School Sweetheart, Jon Bon Jovi.

Who's stronger? Abah was challenging the Governor of California

With Mr. Lincoln

"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves;
and, under a just God, can not long retain it."
Abraham Lincoln
Source: April 6, 1859 - Letter to Henry Pierce

Harith taking tips from Mr. Wood.

Dear hubby getting cozy with Miss J-Lo. ;)

Getting interviewed by Al Roker was a big privilege. Haha..

Despite the great time and fun that we had there, one awful incident happened. Hannah lost her A-Tom..her security pillow, her best friend, her pet, her bantal busuk.. I'm not sure when it occurred, I only realized that A-Tom was missing when we reached Nita's house at around 12.30 a.m. As Hannah was too tired, she fell asleep immediately. But me..I was so sad that I cried my heart out. Huwaaaaaaaaaa..... don't laugh at me. Part of Hannah's growing up memories is A-Tom. Missing A-Tom is like missing a part of Hannah's life. A-Tom was her first pillow in the hospital when I gave birth to her. A-Tom was always there wherever Hannah was. Losing A-Tom made me feel like I have failed my duty as a mother because I didn't take good care of my baby's precious thing. If only I have insisted on leaving A-Tom in the car. If only I have checked that she had it with her when we left the parking lot. If only...if only...

I woke up in the morning with puffy eyes because I really did cried myself out hard. I even called my mom to confide in her. That night, I tried to ask hubby to go back and find A-Tom but he was too tired after the long drive and the jalan-jalan. Nevertheless, dear hubby woke up early in the next morning and went back to MGM. He traced back our trail, but as expected, A-Tom was nowhere to be found. :___( Until now, Hannah is still calling for her A-Tom and every time she does that, my tears will flow down hard. Huhuhu... I even recited a prayer for A-Tom, "Ya Allah Ya Tuhanku, peliharalah keselamatan A-Tom walau di mana juga dia berada". Hehe..go on..laugh at me..I am so pathetic, kan? I even imagined that if only I can call CSI Las Vegas to find A-Tom..surely they would jump in from one dumpster to the other. Heee...

Hannah's last memory with A-Tom. :___(

The next day, we left Nita's house after lunch. "Nita, thank you for your great hospitality. Panjang umur, ada rezeki, Insya-Allah kita jumpa lagi."

Again, we made a stop at Primm. This time was to drop by at the factory outlet. There were a few big name stores there i.e: Coach, BCBGMaxAzaria, Banana Republic, Nike, Michael Kors, Polo Ralph Lauren. The stuffs were authentic, but the price was a big bargain! So apa lagi...makciks pun bershopping sakan laaa...heh..heh..

We reached home around 10 p.m. , feeling very tired. I felt so sad because A-Tom didn't come home with us. Even in the car, Hannah was calling out for her A-Tom. Abah said A-Tom dah kena makan buaya, hehe..and Hannah responded, "Mommy pegi savekan A-Tom...adik nak A-Tom...uwaaaa"...and my tears started falling down again...huwaaa... I am such a sentimental freak!

For more pix of our adventure, please visit our online photo album.

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was our 11th Anniversary. Anniversary apa ye? Haha....

Ok...11 years ago, at around 9 p.m., my other half uttered the three words, for the first time ever.

It made me chuckled just to remember the scene. We were on our way back from having dinner. He was sending me to Masjid Jamek's LRT station. I was living at an apartment in Pandan Indah then. I noticed that he was a bit quiet during dinner...but being a chatter-box, that was perfectly fine with me, because I myself, can memeriahkan suasana.

A few steps from the station, suddenly he stopped and pulled me beside the road. He looked at me seriously and blurted, "I love you." I was like..errr...what? It took me a few seconds to register what he just said. Wooo...I didn't know how to react. We had only known each other for about 3 months (2 months online and 1 month in the real world) and we had only gone out for about 5 times before that. So, you know what I said in response? ... I said, "Thank you." Haha...I can still see his 'dumbfounded' face by my answer. Clearly he was expecting a different answer. Anyway, I just gave him a big smile. I was soooo happy because I was smitten with this boy/man from the first time I met him and for him to propose so unexpectedly, really made my day, err..night. I was so so very happy that I took the wrong way home. Instead of taking the LRT going to Chempaka, I took the other way around, to Sogo instead. Who can blame me? I was in Cloud 9! :))

Now...11 years and 2 babies later, we are still together. Alhamdulillah.

I wished him Happy Anniversary last night but he replied with a deep snores. (chuckled)...if he was awake, he would have ask, "Anniversary apa pulak ni?" Haha..after we got married, we decided that we will only celebrate our wedding anniversary because being a typical man, he's not good in remembering dates. But being a typical woman, I still remember the date. How can't I? It's one of the sweetest memory in my life, forever carved in my mind and my heart.

You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night