4 JULY 2011

It is Zaiton's b'day today ... and friends gathered at the House of Hazienda to celebrate this auspicious day with her. The tea setting was just beautiful... fit for a lady as pretty as Zaiton. Of course the food was just scrumptious... and I'm glad I went with an empty stomach hehehehe

Earlier in the day, my hormones played up with my moods (yup!just blame the hormones!!!) but all that changed the moment I stepped into the House of Hazienda. The ambience coupled with the presence of our lovely friends perked me up :) ... thank you all

But what really made my day was the fact that we, the Golden Girls, really let our hair down. Had so much fun playing the games and participating in the quirky competitions haha ... and I won TWO of them! Third place for creative nail painting ... to paint 5 fingernails within 2 mins and the other was for the catwalk ... haha .... yup!yup!yup! I came out tops ...*lalalalalala

Oh well... it was a good whilst it lasted ... and now I'm back home ... back to mundane duties and responsibilities *sigh*

Have a great week people ... once in a while do be a sport and allow yourself to just let go and be crazy :))

p/s : photos will come later ya ...

The Batu Gang

As a young child up to my teens, I led a nomadic life. Abah was with RISDA and was always on the move... getting transferred from one state to the other every few years. We, the kids, had to tag along... uprooting ourselves from one school to the next. It was hard to bond with anybody... but on the plus side, we made many friends ...yup!yup!yup!

Recently in the past few months...as destiny dictates our lives... I've been blessed with the past... meeting up with friends who remained fresh in my memories but have no inkling where they are. Names that I can recall... faces that are still young and fresh haha ... and sometimes just situations or events I recall but can't remember where they occurred (hahaha ... that's of course due to this thing called m-e-m-o-r-y ... which sometimes I forgot where I put.... muahahahaha) Anyway... yesterday was a great day.

After 36 years... I managed to catch-up with another batch of friends. Mashita found me in facebook... then came Liza and Aini. The biggest surprise was when Amin showed up at Lake Club where we gathered. Thank you all dear friends ... I am blessed. Alhamdulillah....

Guess what???

God works in mysterious ways... yup!yup!yup! Our paths crossed years ago when we were still very young girls... who could even imagine that we'd meet again and become bosom buddies???

As a young girl, I led a nomadic life. Abah would be transferred ever so often from state to state in his course of duty with RISDA. I was in 9 different schools all over Malaysia before I finally ended school life in 1977 and entered the varsity in 1978.

The story starts way back in 1967. I was then in Std 2 in St Nicholas Convent, Alor Star, Kedah. Completed Std 2,3 and 5 ... skipped Std 4 as I was in the express class... and 1 term of Std 6 before we started to move again. Guess who was in Std 1 then? ....haha Zaitun was there too in SNC !!! Huh??? Yup! ZAITUN. Apparently her father was a nomad too... and was serving in Alor Star then. U- uh... never knew Zaitun then haha... but anyway, she wasn't there for long though. Then in 1970... guess who started school in SNC?... yessss... ANIZA!!!! Yup... the other partner-in-crime!!! Oh my!! There was Zaitun with me in SNC in 1967 and Aniza in 1970... our paths crossed and we never knew of each other's existence there until just last Tuesday!!! It was such a coincidence that we were just beyond words to describe the discovery....

How'd we know you asked? Oh it was just in a passing conversation with another friend (Kak Masnah) in one of our morning teas together at Zaitun's home. But that's just it... it is ordained as such that we are actually no strangers without even realising that ... hahaha.. and now here we are... bonded again by the love of Decorative Painting... Allah is Great... Amen. We are now friends for life ... InsyaAllah (God Willing)...

Friends are for life....

Had a fantastic day yesterday... it was a gathering of 13 schoolmates at Ja's. Spent almost the whole day from 10am up to 5.00pm just being crazy with them.... making one helluva noise filled with screeches of girlish laughter and loud talking trying to outdo the other just to be heard above the din hahaha... (that's what Ja's daughter, Dina, said ... NOISE... us aunties were making too much noise she couldn't cope with... hahahaha). Anyway... it was potluck and food was abundant... hahaha... my darling friends forfeited their diet for the day....

May Lee came back from USA... and this gathering was especially for her... see May Lee, we love you so much... that we were willing to sacrifice Saturday just for you. Unfortunately... I have no photos to show as my camera totally kaput on me. However...I have inherited a Sony Digital Still Camera from May Lee (bless her... lucky me... Alhamdulillah). It was a spare she had that she'd not used for quite some time... and thus decided to let me have it, on condition I post her pics taken from it... a simple enough request I cannot reject. Thank you dear.... I shall cherish it.

I will post pics of the gathering later... I shall grab some from Ja's and May Lee's Facebook once they have them posted. In the meantime... I have to go look for a suitable plug for the charger as the plug is not compatible with our sockets here. I have done quite a fair bit of painting lately... will post them later once I get the camera batteries charged....

Have a great day ya....

P/S : finally uploaded a pic taken from Ja's album :)

A Blessed Day....

Yesterday was a good fruitful day. It was a day when I finished 5 items... albeit small items no doubt... but I did them :) It was also a day where friends long lost got to meet... more about that later ya... now to start the day off with a feast on my paintings hahaha...

This rope plaque with hydrangeas is not new. Had it posted a few weeks ago... only difference now is that it's completed and varnished... and is now ready for sale hehe. Will have that posted on my sales blog later along with other items.... once I finished them ... muahahahahaha



I painted 2 more plaques with hydrangeas... but with a slightly different technique... the difference is not that obvious though. Instead of using Glaze Medium on the hydrangeas... I used Magic Mix as the medium. I think I prefer the Glaze Medium... it gives a shine to my flowers hehe... anyway, the plaque on the far right is sold :) and the other one is for sale... off to the sales blog later....


These two plaques with roses differs from my normal roses. I was trying to make the painting look washy and soft like as if I'm using watercolours instead of acrylics. That's the beauty of acrylics... it's so versatile that the painting may be made to look like an oil or watercolour painting just by using different mediums to create the look. anyway... I have Susan Scheewe Brown to inspire me here. Susan paints with watercolours... but I love her style yup!yup!yup! I may have to master the technique but for now I'm pleased with the effect on these two plaques. I have yet to finish them... need to refine a bit more here and there.. then off to sales blog haha


Anyway, back to my story. I had a visit from Roslan and his charming 2-year old baby yesterday at 11am. Roslan is a house husband who paints in his spare time. It has been a long time since I last met him. It's always good when friends of the same passion come to visit. I first met Roslan when he joined us for a painting workshop way back in 2000. His passion was recently rekindled since he became a house husband... and his biggest achievement to date, I must add, is to paint on his dining set!!! Hats off to you sir....

Datin Ros and Zaiyan came about half hour later. They are my painting buddies. We have been so busy lately that our normal meets on Thursdays was put on hold. I was supposed to join them for brunch... but unfortunately circumstances were against me to meet up with them. However, after brunch... they dropped by. I'm glad they did for Marina came shortly after that to collect her stuffs. Marina was a customer but is now a friend. And hey... it's a small world! I thought I was introducing her to my painting buddies... but it seems that she and Datin Ros were already buddies way back in the 70's during their college days! My my my.... the unplanned visits became a reunion for them hahaha... yup!yup!yup!

It was a busy morning for me... but it made my day. I love you guys... so till our next meet... cheerio. Oh btw... today is Friday... I'm meeting my schoolmates for lunch :)... friends for life... :))

My Painting Pals

Sometime 2 or 3 or maybe 4 weeks ago....(can't remember hmm...probably 3 or 4 weeks ago)... Aniza, Zaitun and I met up with Rohaizan for brunch at her condo. It was a good leisurely morning where pals of common interest meet up and talk of anything under the moon and stars. Rohaizan comes back once in a while from Kuwait, and when she does... we try to meet up. In fact... we had another session with her... this time at Aniza's, showing-off and sharing our painting skills ...before she went back to Kuwait. That was good too ;) Anyway... as I was going through my album, I found these 2 pics that I'd not posted yet... so here goes nothing... pics of the 4 of us together at Rohaizan's....

I've been busy painting this week. They are all up for sale... so please do drop by my sales blog ;) at Nora's Touches (link above). I have porcelain mugs, enamel jug, wall plaques and bird houses. Have a look-see ya...

For now... I'm taking a break, posting this onto my blog. Need to varnish the rest before collection tomorrow.... will post those pics tomorrow ya. Till the next post... goodnite... sweetdreams ;)

A blessed week...

*sigh* I've been lazy this week.... at most I'd just basecoated! I have a lot of UFOs here, there, every where....on the table, under the table, on the floor, hidden, exposed!!!!... just a matter of final touches here and there... but.... I've been lazy!!! just no ooommpphhh !!!! However... it had been a good lazy week hahaha... been blog hopping, catching up with my emails and happily leaving comments on my facebook.... (lame excuse to pacify my guilt ...muahahaha) ...

Friday 20 March was especially good.... as usual Friday is lunch day for us Golden Ladies.... but this time we managed to gather many more... besides Ja, Su and I... we had Yasmin, Philomena, Siew Bee, Wai Leng, Elita, Addie, Phaik Leng and Anis. It being the school hols... Ja, Siew Bee, Phaik Leng and I brought along our juniors. It was a table of 16 boisterous females.... errrr.... please don't imagine the noise we made ya.... it's just beyond your imagination!!!!... muahahaha.


By 11.30am we started to gather in front of MPH MidValley and by 11.50am we made our way to Cititel for lunch... BUT we had to wait till 12noon for the buffet counter to be officially opened!! ... so... do we wait quietly??? Nay... never!!!! I don't think there was a moment when the table was ever quiet. We have some high-powered ladies there at our table, mind you.... but when friends meet.... there is no demarcation of status of any form!!!! Bless them all... I love you guys...

OMG.... how time flies... :(

T'was a busy Saturday for me. Had the demo at Amcorp Mall earlier in the day... then later in the evening had a small 'reunion' with my past.... met up with our students....



Datin Zainab (centre), Muli and I were teachers in SMK Dato' Harun some 20 years ago. Received an sms from Muli saying that Datin Zainab wishes to meet up with us... teachers and students alike. God... 'lil ole me became excited and readily agreed to meet up hehehe.... Hey... I just met up with my school chums batch '75 last July ... this definitely is another opportunity I'd not miss!!!!



Well... Muli...bless her ... made the necessary calls and managed to gather 7 of us.... 4 students and 3 teachers. We met at Secret Recipe TTDI at around 4.00pm... and when the boys came in ... I couldn't recognise any of them!!!! They couldn't recognise me either because they said I've changed... but they do remember me upon introduction. Hahaha... apparently I made an impact on them... as I was one of the very garang cikgu!!!! I sure hope it was a good impact tho'... muahahaha.... but I am embarassed since my memory failed me...I just couldn't recall my past with them. *Sigh* very sad.... old age IS catching up with me!!!! *sob*... but it was a good feeling.... to be remembered after all these years. Thank you boys.... you made me feel special...

Class of '75... 50th b'day bash

July 5 2008... a date I'll always remember. That's the day we Assuntarians, Class of '75 ... turned 50 together. After 33 long years, we finally reunited .... and believe you me ... these half centurians are actually still really gorgeous looking chicks!!!! ... yours truly included laa hehe... yup!yup!yup! And ... to top it all ... our beloved Sr Enda was there with us.

We literally walked down memory lane ... such nostalgic memories. I walked in rather apprehensive at first. I came alone ... didn't know whether I'd be remembered ... don't know what to expect .... but oh boy! the moment I entered, I saw Yasmin, Anis, Amy, etc etc etc .... so many familiar faces .... some whose names I can't recall thanks to my failing memory!!! (shucks...blush!...embarassing!!) ... but ... hehe thank god for the name tags tho'.... yup!yup!yup! It was a night beyond description ... a night to remember forever ... for as long we can remember .... when we ended the night with a NOISY photo session and sang our school song with such gusto and pride ... more memories came flooding in ...esp when Sr Enda had to blow the whistle to quieten us down long enough for the photographer to shoot us hehe ... the goose bumps and a tingling sensation was what I felt ... once an assuntarian ... always an assuntarian .... we are a big and happy family... I love you guys ... lets have more nights like this ya...

Friends Forever

Apart from painting my heart out... I look forward to this particularly special day with my friends. We have had lunch once a week since 4 years ago. We try not to miss even if its just the 2 of us...this is our sacred day where we'd just yak yak yak...pour our hearts out or whatever that fancies us at that moment. After lunch we'd adjourn to Coffee Bean and continue there until it's time to go back to work...oh well...hehehe they have to go back to work anyway.... me???...ooohhh that's my day off...muahahaha

Ja(lady in black) and Su... I've known them since primary 6....that's way way way back in 1970! We'd gone a long way since then...grew apart for a while as we got caught up with studies, family life, work etc but we do meet occasionally for gatherings and sorts. Amer...I knew him later in 1974 where we met for interschool society meetings. He was from La Salle...we were from Assunta. Of course there are others too..Didi, Iqbal occasionally joins us and Abang (once) when he could....but we are the normal four that TRY to meet-up regularly weekly. Ja, Su, Amer...I love you guys...our paths crossed for a reason and I thank God for that. I thank God for all my friends....

I found this quote somewhere ....I'd like to share it with you... "Friends are like balloons...once you let them go, you might not get them back". I believe in that.. again... I thank Allah for my friends... I know you'll be there when I need you...

The Awesome Foursome

My life is blessed with great wonderful people around me. I look forward to Thursday afternoons when the four of us will meet and just do nothing but eat, chat, chat, eat, eat, chat, paint, chat, chat...usually in that order hahaha. We take turns to host...the last one being at Datin Roses's house.

It was initially an afternoon meant for us to gather and try to complete our UFOs...yup! we ALL have UFOs hahaha...but usually we end up doing more talking and eating than painting!!! But then again...what better excuse than a UFO to get us meeting again...right???

The lady above?...she's Rose, the hostess for the day ... painting away in her beautiful kitchen with us, the awesome foursome...yup!yup!yup!muahahaha. Her current project? To paint her house number plaque ...a long overdue project...hehehe come to think of it...I'd not painted mine either!!! Yikes!

Meet Christine and Zaiyan too...so focussed in their work that they didn't even realise I was ready to shoot them haha. Christine's passion is lacework She has such steady hands that the lines on her lace work are so fine. Makes her lacework a marvel to look at...don't you agree?

Zaiyan on the other hand is still at the preparation stage of her project...applying the gesso on the wood surface! So nothing to show yet so far haha.

It's a very relaxed afternoon. No rush to finish off anything...doing things at our own pace. When the mood to paint is not there... we would just sit and chat and chat and chat...and eat eat eat haha... until it's time to leave and get back to routine life....*sigh* what a life...