Hari Raya 2010 & Mel's surprise belated bday bash!

While others are enjoying their extended holiday,
am currently stuck in office questioning why my dad is a PHD doctor and not an actual doctor.
If he is a medical doctor, I would have asked for fake MC and let me have another week to sleep and enjoy my tv series at home XD LOL!

As i mentioned before, my Hari Raya celebration this year was moderate but really meaningful nonetheless.

2 days before Raya, my family and I went to visit my late grandpa's grave.


It has been 2 years since he last with us :)
I hope he is happy and protected wherever he is right now.


Our 1st day of Raya started of as usual;
We went to the mosque for Raya prayer, then headed back home and glamorised ourselves before beraya with our own family (AND get duit raya hohoho) :)


Being the youngest in the family,
Nadia once again has her pocket full with duit raya from all of us. Cis!


Before we beraya at my grandma's house,
it's a common practice for us to go to Istana (where the TYT resides) with our parents.


Unlike last year, the interior Hari Raya setting this year was less captivating.
But all in all, we enjoyed the food served.


I didn't eat a lot as i was saving my tummy for my grandma's cooking.


At Wan's place, what else would i look forward to then my grandma's Nasi Ayam German and Serunding Daging... *yummmmmmmmmm*!!!!


What made our Hari Raya extremely extra meaningful was the fact that this year, BB as well as my sis fiance joined us in all of our Hari Raya outing :)
It really felt like a bigger family :)


BB also joined our 'berziarah' practise for the first time this year :)


I also berziarah with BB to seek for his forgiveness.


But not fair(!) how come man don't say sorry to the woman too? Ceh.
But no worries, we forgive each other sincerely :P

During previous Hari Raya, TYT and CM's open house was held on the same day (1st day of Hari Raya).
As Hari Raya falls on Friday this year, our CM decided to have his open house for everyone on 2nd day (Saturday) to give way to all muslims to go for Friday prayer after TYT's open house.

In my opinion, I believe it would be better if he can maintain it for future years as it gives ample time for people to visit their immediate family member on the first day of Raya :)


Kak Niza and family also came to visit at night.
My my... has Syabil and Bella grown a year bigger XD


Food that night was AWESOME especially the Rendang that Ezwan's mom coked for us.
It was OMG delicious!!!! *om nom nom*
Am not a fan of rendang... but THIS rendang makes you go nuts!
Sluuurp!!!!
I want to order from her next time for mini gathering ^^


Oh! With the kids around, we have a valid excuse to pay bunga api too! *yey*! XD


Lol! Look at the young wizard XD
It was fun joining the kids to play... but man... we were pissed at the quality of the fire crackers.
All masuk angin! =_="
It stopped halfway while we were playing it!
BB didn't join us as he had a bad experience with firecrackers when he was little *aww*


On day-3 of Raya, BB and I went to Syariff's place in the morning b4 heading to my neighbour's open house right after.
At Syariff's, we played card game lead by Shahrul and had KFC for lunch XD
Oh! Other than Syarrif's house, I also joined BB to Adam/Hangman's house for the first time this year (Day-1).
Thank you all for your hospitality ^_^
I nom nom-ed non stop *huhuhu*

Last open house that we went to *before i dreadfully dragged myself to work on Monday* was Dtk Yahaya's house escorting my parents.
Protocol was important, so we didn't get to monkey around hehe :P

+++++

Another thing that made me happy this Raya is that Mel came back to KK with new family member, Seri Celestial! ^^
Since it's not that often we get to get together, and that we have not celebrated Mel's birthday for more than 5 years now, I decided to throw her a surprise belated birthday and congrats party especially for her :)


Since i kind of last minute thought about throwing Mel a surprise bday party,
I made an arrangement with Nestor, head chef of Sailors' Cafe for a great food package, Aunty Florence (Mel's mom) to make sure she CAN come *else everything will be meaningless* and also with Richie to gather the whole family for the night.
Huhuhu... couldn't done it without them ^_^

Angeline was kind enough to accept my last minute cupcake order too :)
And as expected of Angeline, the cupcake was delicious and received many good points from guests.

If you want to order cupcakes for your future event, call Boutique Cupcakes at 0168262508 or you can always visit them here.


Thanks to Seri's last minute nappy change, Mel arrived later than expected.
Hence, gave us ample time to finish up our express polaroid project ^_^


When Mel arrived, she saw my parents and quickly approached them (we were behind her).
We were quiet hesitated on what to do next... and since the candle was melting, we went ahead and shouted surprise + sang Happy Birthday song.

It was awkward as we sang while facing her back =_="
*Ish... I told my parents to hide from the scene but they wouldn't listened ><"*
But whatever it is, she was speechless. hahaha *fail~* XD



Nestor prepared us a great food package with massive portion!
The food kept on coming and coming till my guests begged me to stop feeding them hahahaha!


The food selection was more actually, but i didn't manage to take all pictures *busy eating, sorry~~*
But just in case you wondering what we ate.. below is the menu for only RM25 nett/pax.

Soup
Chicken Wings
Garlic Bread
Teriyaki Beef Balls
Cajun Spice Chicken
Lamb Shoulder Asam Pedas
Tenggiri with kunyit
Rice
Kangkung belacan
Icecream & Fresh Fruits Medley

For future private events, just call up Nestor (Sailors Cafe) at 0168319938. You can also set your budget and he will work on the menu for you ;)

While others have their own special present for Mel, I decided to buy her something that she can record her own memory with.
Yeaps.. it sounded like a camera isn't it? :P
But not just any kind of camera *heh*
I bought her a POLAROID!


When i saw the surprised look on her face,
I exhaled happily and thought to myself "SANGAT TAK MENYESAL BELI POLAROID!!! XD"
It's not as troublesome as traditional camera where you have to run to the shop and develop the films, and it is also not as canggih as digicam where u can take millions of pictures at a time till every shot taken isn't too special anymore.
*happy*happy*happy*

Here are more cool presents from Ophelia and Leena :)


For Seri, BB and I bought her Cupipi!


Mel, if you are reading this, 10 years ago, all of us finished SPM exam not knowing what life has installed for us.
We thought Leena gonna get married first, and I will be staying in KL and build a life there;
WHO would have known that you will find your one and only true love and get married first, reside in KL permanently (despite being a family person), create your own animation studio as what you've dreamed of before and be the first to have beautiful Seri Celestial.
For that, we all would like to say Congratulations for achieving great gifts in life one step at a time.
Keep hopping on your life stepping stone and discover more surprises ahead.
We all love you VERY VERY VERY MUCH!


Oh... emo sebentar... *sobs*

More photos can be viewed here:
- Hari Raya 2010 - Day 1 can be viewed here
- Hari Raya 2010 - Day 2 & 3 can be viewed here
- Mel's Surprise bday bash can be viewed here
.