Wedding Errands + Babysitting

Since I'm still on Raya leave, I'm taking this opportunity to sort out all of my wedding preparations. Went to SSF at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman to check out some hydrangeas in the morning and then went for lunch with my family at Pasta Zanmai.

Crabmeat Avocado Pasta with Sesame Sauce

September Special - Marron Parfait

Later we also dropped by Parkson. My mom wanted to try the new Dior fragrances and since we were already there, I decided to buy my make-up set for the hantaran. Since I don't know much about make-up, it was very helpful to have my mom there to tell me what are the basic items I needed.

After that I went to the Kelana Jaya Government Clinic to do the HIV screening and then went to SSF at Sri Damansara to buy curtains and bed spread for my room.

I also promised my eldest sis that I would visit Aqil to play with him today. By the time I settled all of my errands, I got to my sis's apartment at about 7 pm. Wanted to drop by just for a little while but my nephew wouldn't let us go home. My second sis and I wanted to sneak out when he was taking a shower but it was so hard to persuade him to shower and when he finally gave in and right before he went into the bathroom he said "don't go home yet okay?"

It's like he knew! :P

No aunt in the world would have the heart to go back after that! So we waited till he was ready to go to bed before leaving.

My Little Nephew

I was browsing through some past Raya pictures and was amazed to see how much my nephew, Aqil Ryan has grown! He is my 3rd nephew and to me extremely adorable :) I may not have the energy to take care of him one whole day (he is very hyper) but I do try and play with him whenever I can. If my sis comes over to my place, the first thing I would ask her is if she brought him along :P

I thought it was just very amusing to see how different he looks now compared to before....

2008

2009

2010

Second Day of Raya

The second day of Raya we went back to Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. We went visiting 5 houses in total so it was pretty much non-stop eating since lunch :P

Before that we stopped by my sis's new apartment, One Menerung at Bangsar. She just moved into the apartment a week before Raya and we have yet to see it. The concept was very minimalist and modern. Very nice.

Aqil excited showing his room

Not sure what exactly he was trying to do :P

First Day of Raya

Today I woke up early to start decorating my cake. For this year's Raya I decided to make a chocolate house :) The part I love most about baking is the decorating bit so this was going to be much fun! I bought chocolate sticks, mini M&Ms and hundreds and thousands for the decorating.

The cake base

Preparation of the chocolate sauce and decorative items

End product :) - front

Back of the chocolate house

Because Raya was on a Friday, everyone came a little later than usual. When Jonie, Jin Han, Audrey and Sheryl came, there were still a lot of my relatives around. Luckily they managed to find some place to sit!

Later at night when most of the people went back already, my family brought out a strawberry cake and started singing happy birthday to me :) It's 2 days early so it was a surprise!

Next up - 2nd Raya - destination: Rembau, Negeri Sembilan

Eid Mubarak

Even though the announcement was going to be made on Wednesday night, I think we all knew that Raya would be on Friday. That same night I checked my Blackberry to see an e-mail from the managing partner of the firm wishing all Muslims Selamat Hari Raya and declaring Thursday as half day!! Woo hoo!! :D

Half day is a tricky business. Most often it simply means we can leave at 5 or 6 pm :p But today I was determined to leave by 2 pm latest since I need to bake a cake for Raya tomorrow. Sharp 1pm I activated my 'out of office' and hoped that no client would call me with some emergency...like what happened on Christmas eve -_-;

At 1.30 pm I made my exit! :D

Got home, bought some ingredients and started baking! For the end product, well that will have to wait till my next post ;)

For now, I would like to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and maaf zahir & batin :)

One of those days...

Today is just one of those days. Started off with morale being low as I loss one of my court case this morning. The law was not on our side for this one...but I can't help feeling what if I had done more research? maybe I should have argued it differently...*sigh*

Next was the issue of billing. Billing clients has become a super stress factor lately. The issue arises from the fact that my billing rate per hour is high and we quote low fees to clients to stay competitive. And more often than not, the budget bursts. So when I review the bills, I will have to be prepared to answer to the partner to explain why the bill exceeded the budget and justify all time spent on the file. And trust me, that session is not pleasant.

So what my colleagues and I do to avoid that lecture session is to cut our time. For example if we spent 4 hrs to do research and draft a legal opinion but the budget only allows 2 hours of our time, we enter the remaining 2 hrs under firm time. Problem solved? no...

Every week the system generates this chart which shows our target billing compared to our actual billing, which is also forwarded to the partner. So with us always under representing the time spent on a billable work, the chart will reflect this and it will appear as if we do not have enough work or are inefficient.

Before this we had no issue meeting our billing target and would usually exceed it before the end of the financial year. Now, everyone is behind on our target and are feeling the pressure of having to produce excellent quality work at an even faster pace. *stress*

Raya Cookies & Hydrangeas

This weekend was a Raya cookies baking weekend. We are not baking much this year, just three kinds, biskut arab, mazola and nescafe. I was baking cookies from 9.00 - 3 pm on Saturday and from morning till the afternoon today. Now it's all done :)

Next up - planning what cake / dessert to make for Raya. Have some options lined up...but it also depends on whether Thursday is a half day at the office. If not, don't think I can find the time to do it :P

Oh and the other day I found a hydrangea plant at home! My parents bought it recently and I think its real pretty! :D I just hope it survives...