Slowing Down

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Assalamu'alaikum to the Muslims & hi to my non-muslim readers!!!

Sorry for the delay as my hubby has safely arrived home last week! YAY. *Just to let you know this* since I did mention in one of my posts last time that I would definitely need to slowdown on my blogging activities when my Mr. is around.. heheh. Furthermore, it's RAMADHAN. The suitable month to train as well as to improve ourselves in order to become a better Muslim (well I guess the same goes to all Muslims out there...). Therefore, it would be greatly appreciated if you could just BEAR with me, ok! Ahahha. *Honestly I'm really looking forward to continue with my so-called pilgrimage journal but unfortunately not for this entry. Not at the moment (hmm looks like it!). But that'll be coming soon. In Shaa Allah...*

So happy fasting to all my Muslim readers. Happy Qiyam al-Layl (remaining awake at night for voluntary prayers) too! May we all be granted with the blessings of the "Night of a Thousand Months"... the LAYLATUL QADR :)

P.s. Here's one of my latest outfits from aRLENE.my. Looove my new top peplace! ;)

Outfit:
Scarf: Pashmina
PICKS-TOP long peplace gold with black inner: aRLENE
Jeans: Unbranded (my all-time favorite! :p)
Heels: COACH

Pilgrimage Journal 2013: MAKKAH (Part 1)

Assalamu'alaikum. Good day olls.

Alhamdulillah it's already the 4th day of Ramadhan and gosh, it's such a beautiful rainy Saturday here again in KL.. me voilà! I know that I had promised in one of my earlier posts titled, June 12 to update an entry on my recent Umrah trip in May. Well I guess you could tell from my title above how excited I am to share that wonderful 12days-journey-of-a-lifetime experience with all of you now. Hope you'll enjoy reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing and looking forward to reread it in the future! Heheh...

[Note: I prefer to spell Makkah instead of Mecca and Madinah instead of Medina]

Day 1 (May 19, 2013): Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) - King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Our flight to Jeddah was scheduled at 3PM and we were asked by our agent to be at the airport by 12noon. Anyway, we headed off to KLIA as early as 8:30AM as we were vewy punctual plus over excited! :p

My mmuaah mmuaah baby sister, Princess Nia
Hello? She wasn't crying 'coz I was leaving, ok! She was actually sleepy -,-

Breakfast with our loved ones

Since we entered Makkah first instead of Madinah, hence, the guys would need to get ready with their ihram garments (two-piece garment of white cotton cloths). They could wear them either at the airport or in flight. As for my hubby, he wore his ihram garment at the airport since it is more convenient to do so. We came in a large group this time and the group was later being divided into 3 subgroups. There were about 40 people in each group. And my family (me, hubby, his mom & his sister) was put under group #2 with the young and talented Ustaz Muhibbudin as our mutawwif (tour guide). *Wink*

My tag

I had actually performed my first Umrah back in 1996 but that was when I was still in primary school! Hence, the feeling was completely different compared to this time.. I mean visiting there as an adult. Honestly I was very nervous and so excited that I wasn't able to sleep all the way! Huhuhu.

Reading the step-by-step Umrah guide again and again...
Unlike my usual trip, I couldn't believe that I didn't sleep at all!

An in-flight announcement was made about 30 minutes BEFORE we passed the miqat makani point (a stated place for assuming ihram). Our miqat point was Qarn-ul-Manazil since we entered from Malaysia.

Finally arrived in Jeddah at about 6PM (local time)

It was such a very long queue when we arrived at the airport. We only managed to settle everything at about 7:30PM and we were later taken to the Holy City of Makkah by bus. Well the journey from Jeddah to Makkah took us nearly about 1.5 hours (if I'm not mistaken). Our hotel called the "Hera Hotel" was located about 600 meters from Masjidil Haram (believe me that it wasn't actually that far! :p). Once we arrived at the hotel, hubby and mom followed the rest to Masjidil Haram to complete their Umrah and only came back after performing their Subuh (dawn) prayers there... hmm whereas my sister-in-law and I had to stay at the hotel (in ihram!) due to the women so-called monthly cycle thingy excuse! T_T

Day 2 (May 20, 2013): Leisure activities

So everyone was FLAT! Therefore, we were advised to have enough rest before the next Umrah. Alhamdulillah, I managed to complete my Umrah on the second day (accompanied by my beloved hubby). So the two of us went to Masjidil Haram at night (well Mr. Hubby acting as my mutawwif! HEHE). Anyway, I was speechless upon seeing Ka'abah for REAL.. in front of my eyes again after 17 years!! ALLAH KABEER!

The Grand Mosque. Captured this view after performing our Subuh prayers. SubhanAllah!

After the 1st Umrah. Just love being there!
Celebrating the fact that a woman's life is indeed easier without make-up,
fancy dress or even parfum. And the best part is having realized that
neither you nor anyone actually cares about it! Hehehee...

Aite fellas, until now. In Shaa Allah will continue with the rest of the journey in my upcoming posts. And that will be very soon. So do come back for more interesting stories and adventures, ok! Happy weekend. Ma'assalamah.


Nikita xo

Ahlan wa Sahlan ya Ramadhan!

Assalamu'alaikum my dear Muslim brothers & sisters!

Ramadhan is loading!!! Hence, I would like to wish all of you HAVE A BLESSED MONTH OF RAMADHAN 2013M/1434H. *So we'll officially start our fasting month tomorrow!* :)))

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “When the month of Ramadhan begins, the gates of the Heaven are opened and the gates of Hellfire are closed, and the devils are chained”. (Source: Sahih Bukhari 1800)

Marhaban ya Ramadhan Kareem
Credit to hdwallpapercorner.com

Credit to ISLAMICPOSTERS.ORG | CO.UK

One of the two essential elements of fasting: INTENTION!!!

Credit to doaayatdanzikir.wordpress.com

The Ramadhan 2013M/1434H Schedule...
P.s. Only for Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya & Selangor

Imsak & Iftar 2013M/1434H
Kuala Lumpur & Putrajaya, Malaysia

Imsak & Iftar 2013M/1434H
Selangor, Malaysia (Page 1)

Imsak & Iftar 2013M/1434H
Selangor, Malaysia (Page 2)

Marshmallows for Breakfast

Assalamu'alaikum people! Just keep calm and ❤ Monday, ok!! (:

It's quite rainy here at my place. So how was your weekend? Hopefully you ended up your week with something awesome. Anyway, so did I. My Saturday was lovely; I started off the day with an early morning breakfast at my favorite kopitiam (coffee shop) of course!, spent hours reading novel there and doing some photography later on. Hmm and my Sunday was not bad too. I had my window shopping for clothes and also bought some groceries at the nearest supermarket (now that the blessed month of Ramadhan is coming most probably in less than 24 hours, guys! ALHAMDULILLAH).

Saturday Love on-the-GO

Outfit:
Scarf: Pashmina
Long knit cardigan: Forever 21
Leggings: UNIQLO
Pumps: Payless ShoeSource
Bag: Unbranded (bought this in Madinah @ only SR10..! HEHE)

I'm a #1 coffee & tea lover, baby... tehee! And OldTown White Coffee (Ampang Waterfront outlet) is my regular spot as it is located nearby my house (less than 15 minutes drive). Well you can find their outlets almost everywhere in Malaysia but bare in mind that not all of them have or actually apply for the HALAL cert, ok! Therefore, what I like about this outlet is that it is certified HALAL by JAKIM as well as operates as a Grade-A premise :)

OldTown White Coffee Ampang Waterfront
Their hazelnut white coffee & white milk tea are my regular fav!!

Marshmallows for Breakfast is actually a title of the fourth novel written by Dorothy Koomson. Well before we got married, my hubby and I used to buy lots and lots of books for our future home (with a dream to have a mini library of our own one day! LOL). *Now that the so-called simple mini library is still in progress..* And apparently I found this novel (which we bought somewhere in January 2008 before we got engaged!) while I did my housekeeping last Friday. So I decided to read it ASAP before I keep on forgetting about its existence again and again... ahahha. Anyway, we both share a love for books. GOOD books ;)))

Living in my oblivion. Spent hours at the kopitiam reading this novel!
Eventually, I had the "OldTown Ipoh Chicken Hor Fun" instead
of having marshmallows for breakfast :p

Well just a short summary of the novel. Basically it's about a single and attractive black lady, Kendra who rents a room from a white guy named Kyle, who is a separated father of two. His kids, six-year-old Summer and Jaxon (they're twins!) later adopt Kendra as their new mother mainly because she lets them eat marshmallows for breakfast. *Haha that's kind of cute!* Kendra later on becomes part of their lives even though she's actually hiding a painful secret, which she swore she wouldn't tell anyone or ever think about it for the rest of her life!! Well as time goes by, Kendra and Kyle eventually find themselves fancy each other. Unfortunately as everything is going on well with them, the twins apparently are taken away by their mother.. hmm too bad. Anyway, I was a bit confused with Kendra-Kyle relationship status. Sometimes they act as if they are lovers but sometimes they're not more than just best friends. *Well I don't really believe that a man and a woman can actually be best friends, do you?* But overall I can say that this novel is totally enjoyable and quite funny. Love the title though I don't really like marshmallows (unless if they're dipped with chocolate!). And worry not as the story ends with a happy ending... *Wink* Aite, gotta go now. Until next time.

P.s. Can't wait for the Ramadhan announcement!

Dear July

Instagram photo credit to #ammatgrimlock