A Holiday, a Funeral and a Manifesto

So two Wednesdays ago, DH, Mom and I boarded the plane and flew all the way to Jakarta. We made this plan since my BFF got the word that she was transferred to her Jakarta office, so we didn't need to stay at a hotel. Well, BFF's place is a service apartment, so technically it's a hotel. We stayed here. Cool, eh?

Hello Jakarta!

We spent three nights in Jakarta. I quite like Jakarta actually. DH did too, despite the massive, and I mean massive traffic jam. Just look at this.

You could be stuck in traffic for an hour just to get from BFF's place to the shopping mall across the street. Across the street! And yeah we took a cab to the mall across the street coz of mom's bad leg. We didn't do anything much there besides shopping. We managed to get our things for umrah, and very cheap too! Things in Jakarta are really cheap so we bough bags full of shawls and clothes. My friend took us to Dian Pelangi's boutique and mom and I bought a prayer attire each. For RM60 a piece, that's pretty darn cheap considering the same thing could fetch almost RM200 in KL. Quite a steal!

The shops in Tanah Abang. Super duper cheap stuff!

We also went up to the highland in Puncak. Nothing much to see there unless you want to sit at the coffeehouse and watch the view from above.

the tea plantation in Puncak

Me & Mom :D

Avocados in many shapes and sizes

Me & BFF at Dian Pelangi's boutique. Don't you just love the carvings behind us?

We returned home on Saturday and on Saturday morning, big sister knocked on my bedroom door and told me that our uncle is gravely ill and that mom wanted to go back to Ipoh to visit him. So I left for Ipoh with big sister and mom and rushed to the hospital. It turns out that uncle had a stroke and was in a coma by the time we got to Ipoh 2 hours later. We were lucky that little sister's friend is a doctor at that hospital and he managed to extract information about our uncle, that he was in critical stage and he had a lung infection to fight. We stayed at the hospital for a good few hours, and since there was nothing we could do we returned home. The next morning at dawn mom called to tell me that uncle has passed away. Again we made a two hour trip back to Batu Gajah for the funeral. It was a sad affair as uncle was well loved. In my mind he will always be dressed in his pagoda t-shirt and pelekat, greeting us excitedly whenever we came to visit. May you rest in peace uncle. 

Okay, enough of dreary stuff. Have you read this post by Stirrup Queens? I read it and I loved it! It's an infertility manifesto and it speaks to me. Loudly. Stirrup Queens wrote with such eloquence and I dare any infertile to disagree with me on this, she wrote what we infertiles feel and think every single day. Have a read you guys, and let the words speak to you, just as they did me. 

Have a fun filled week ahead!

And The Countdown Begins!

This time on Wednesday I'll be on the road on my way to the airport with DH and mom for our trip to Jakarta. I so can't wait for this trip. One of my BFFs is working there and so we're crashing her place here:

She has kindly prepared an itinerary for us. I'll tell you more about our trip when we come back on Saturday, but just a little sneak peak, we'll be going mostly to Tanah Abang, Bogor and Puncak. DH and I need to do our shopping for Umrah, and what better way than to shop in Jakarta where you can get most of the stuff for cheap prices! And speaking of Jakarta, DH and I went to the Flea Market at The Curve on Saturday and I was rummaging through scarves and "anak tudung" which were sold there, and we bumped into the sister of my BFF who is in Jakarta. She then whispered to me not to get the scarves at the Flea Market and to get them in Jakarta instead for a fraction of the price. I swear if our luggage back to KL does not explode it will be a miracle LOL.

And last Saturday, DH and I went for our kursus Umrah where the Ustaz talked us through on what to expect and what to do when we're in Madinah and Mekah. I'm excited about this trip too, the kind of excitement that you can't really explain. DH and I have been through so much these past couple of years and I hope that this mini pilgrimage that we'll be doing next month will bring us closer to God and hopefully InsyaAllah our prayers will be answered there. 

To be a part of this...MasyaAllah

A little side note. I'm currently reading this:

I've read the first installment, "A Discovery of Witches" and loved it and I'm halfway through this sequel and can't seem to put down the sequel. If you're into witches and vampires (not the Twilight kind, please) and time travel and a little bit of history, grab this book. Well, grab the prequel first, and then grab this one. I sacrifice my sleep after Fajr prayer for this :P

Ok, will update more when I come back from Jakarta. Happy Monday and have a good week!

More Updates

Hello good people! How was everyone's weekend? Good? Excellent! Me? I spent Saturday afternoon at Dr. A's clinic with DH to get my final Diphereline shot. Dr. A did a transvaginal scan (hello transvaginal wand! Long time no see!) and saw some fluid which is probably my endometriosis blood. Other than the fluid, everything else appears to be hunky dory. She ordered me to do an HSG test next month at Tawakal Hospital. Not looking forward to that one, I must say. My last HSG test was a nightmare. The pain was indescribable I actually cried while doing the test. This time I asked Dr. A for some painkillers to take before the procedure. Hopefully, this time it won't be as traumatic.

Two must have items while waiting at the clinic: coffee and a good book

After the appointment me and DH headed to SDCC for lunch with the family. It was big sis's birthday last week and we celebrated over dim sum, crispy duck and chicken feet. What better way to spend a birthday eh?

Me, big sis and the cheeky monkeys

Aaaaaah...chicken feet. Love this stuff!

Sunday was spent at the Bird Park. Big Sis wanted to take the cheeky monkeys and since DH had an appointment to see his client, I decided to tag along to the park. I'm glad I did coz in all my 32 years living in KL I have never ever stepped foot at the Bird Park. And I had the best time too!

Jasmine, our photographer for the day

For lunch I took them to one of my favourite restaurants, La Risata. It was mom and Big Sis's first time there and they loved it! We had the salmon ravioli, baked pasta, squid ink pasta and pepperoni pizza (for the kids). We also tried the chicken liver pate which was too die for. Didn't have time to snap photos of what we ate coz we attacked them as soon as the waiter brought them out. 

Mama & Big Sis

So in love am I with this restaurant that just last Friday I took my buttcheeks there for a dinner treat. Bonus was good this year and what better way to spend it than treating your best friends to dinner eh? :D

Love these ladies to death

Glorious food! (or part of :P)

And now it's already Wednesday. One week to our Jakarta trip and I can't wait! What did you do last weekend?

Updates

Whoa! It's been almost a month since my last post. A month! Sorry about that. Nothing interesting happening in my life, hence the lack of posts. Well, actually I've had a couple of interesting moments, but was too lazy to write :P Had my 2nd of 3rd shot of Diphereline last month and will be taking the last shot this Saturday. I started to feel the effects of the shots from the 2nd shot, the worst being the hot flushes. And my goodness, do I sweat! When everyone at the office is freezing from the a/c, I'll be sweating and fanning myself. But aside from that and my libido going on a downward spiral (my RE was not joking about this) I feel fine. I don't feel like throwing tantrums every 2 seconds and I don't go crying every 5 minutes, so I'm gonna say this whole menopause thingy is actually kinda okay. And AF has stopped coming. Can't say I miss it. So that's everything about my forced menopause. RE's gonna do a vaginal scan and tummy scan this Saturday to make sure everything is okay, and we'll go from there.

Got my bonus this month Alhamdulillah. I got a very good rating from boss, as promised. I paid for my Mini Clubman in full, paid for my umrah (mini pilgrimage) next month InsyaAllah, got a little something for myself, gave some of my bonus to my parents, plan to take my family and buttcheeks out for a nice dinner, and the rest will go to my savings. And I'll be going for short holiday with DH and my mom to Jakarta this month yay!

I must say that it's refreshing to take a break from fertility treatments, well except for the Diphereline shots. I don't get depressed every month when I don't get pregnant because I know I can't (thanks Diphereline). I read a post from a blogger I follow that there should be a life outside infertility. And she's right. I told myself a long time ago that I will not let my life revolve around my infertility, although at times I've done just that. It's not healthy for me and for my marriage. My life will not be dictated by my inability to conceive and to carry a baby full term, and I will try to keep that in mind the next time I get depressed. And to celebrate being free from the shackles of having to take clomide and being a pin cushion, DH and I booked tickets to...drum roll please! Japan!!! We'll be going to mainly Osaka and Tokyo in November and I can't wait!

Disneyland, here I come!

So, that's my short update. Will update more after my appointment with Dr. Adilah this Saturday. Oh and have you heard about the Veronica Mars movie that's coming out next year? I'm stoked! Yup, I'm a sucker for teen drama. Bet you didn't know that about me heh? :P