The big 40 - most memorable birthday thus far!

there I said it ...there I admit it ...akak telah pun masuk umur sebaya abang ngah and kak ngah keramat, abang long kuantan ..kak lang shah alam ....dah selamat mencecah umur 40 ..but, it is Just 40 and still absolutely fabulous ok ....alhamdullilah ...am thankful for what I have ..my beautiful family who always been there for me, through thick and thins ...my adik beradik Just 40 - who are always there to support me and dah macam keluarga sendiri (sayang korang!!!!!) ..my close friends - you know who you are (hehehe tau korang baca blog nie!) ..I am thankful for what I am today ...i have my ups and downs selama 40 tahun ini...but i am grateful for them - both the anugerah kehidupan, dugaan dan cabaran ...dugaan sepuluh tahun lepas made me stronger ...made me who I am today ...and being where I am today - feeling blessed is one of the feelings that I thank God for ...sometimes aku lupa ..sometimes aku leka ...tapi hakikatnya, i have a blessed life ...thank you God ..aku bersyukur atas segala nya

the day before turning 40

I did not tell anyone about my birthday ...only told an exceptional few ..and they, together with my family, have been banned from mentioning my age on FB hahaha ...and terima kasih semua sebab ikut perintah mem besar ini hahahaha ...tahun ini, despite dreading it, I actually had a great time ..most memorable ...

I had an early bday celebration masa Kiky and Tijot were here ...makan2 bday ajer hahaha ...nanti buat a separate posting on that ..last year for my 39th birthday, we celebrated at Top Spot sempena nak datang sini to further study sekali ngan farewell Haslina - they bought a surprise kek masa tu! This time, they did another surprise ...datang Welly a week before my birthday hehehehe that was a great catch up ....

senja nan sejuk di Oriental Bay ...a week before my actual birthday

then di ambang 40 tu, I went out for a dinner with my Welly friends ...they are the only people (selain Maryam) whom I told about my birthday :-) went to a restaurant at Holland Street  ..and as usual kekecohan kami berempat memang over ...nasib tak disuruh keluar oleh owner kedai tu!!! another surprise ..Ms. SS bawak kek ...that she baked herself ..a red velvet ok!!! And the icing is so yummy and out of this world ....and the cake sedapppppp ....so ada lah scene nyanyi happy birthday at the restaurant ...and of couse, scene posing2 with the cake! and she even came prepared with birthday napkins, picnic basket ...candles semua ...

after lepak2 makan half of the cake ..serious, kami makan half of the cake then ..and siap makan icing lagi (icing lebihan yang Ms. SS bawak kan utk tunjuk kat kami) ...till kedai tu nak tutup ...then bukan nak balik rumah ..sambung carik dessert at another establishment ...had a great night out with the girls ...end up catching the last bus home! last bus tu kol 11.15... itu pun balik sebab memikirkan tak nak jalan kaki ...kalau tak sah2 belum balik seawal tu hahaha   thank you girls!!! sangat2 memorable and it was a great fun to catch up

the next day - which is my actual birthday - woke up early...and saw birthday wishes from adik2 aku ..from adik beradik Just 40 and close friends from Mysia and UK who remembered my birthday..so touched korang ingat ...thanks so much for the kind wish...my foster mom sent a long email - sangat touching ..i miss her!!!

Went to yoga with maryam pagi tu at 9.00am...i have reactivate my membership - yang aku put on hold masa balik mysia july aritu - Maryam ketuk bilik ku awal pagi to wish me happy birthday ..and gave me pressies ...so sweet of her!

and as usual after yoga tu lepak2 rumah aku for coffee ...i served ana and nabil rv cake ...and coz of that terbongkar le rahsia yang that day was my bday ...dorang insist nak kuar dinner and celebrate ngan aku ...aku tak nak kuar ...but they insist and kata thats what friends do for each other ...so kuar gak le malam tu ...yang tak tahan nyer ...mamat tu gi cancel date dia so that dia boleh kuar ngan kami semua malam tu...hahaha ok lah ....kawan baik who sanggup cancel his date ...ngko adaaaaaa???? coz of that kami tak dibenarkan ambik byk gambar malam tu, in kes rahsia dia terbongkar ....and no one should post anything on FB then ...hanya dibenarkan berbuat demikian pada malam berikut nya ...hahaha lawak kan ...

the couple behind photobombed our pic lol

malam tu we went to Fisherman's Table di Oriental Bay ..dah le that day we had southerlie wind storm hahaha hebat kan birthday aku ..siap storm bagai ...tapi my crazy friends ni kata redah ajer ...pakai jer tetebal ...coz celebrating birthday is an important thing ....pergi ok ..but balik tu was raining ..so everyone was icy cold ...wet but fun jalan sesama back to town ....aku ngan maryam nekad balik naik bus ..tak sanggup jalan in the wind and rain back to Kelburn ...another fun night out!!! and another memorable day for me ...

these are what they got for me ..an 8-cup coffee plunger (for coffee with friends coz coffee are nicer if shared) ...a packet of Havana coffee (so that you have something to look up for early morning since you are not an early riser) and a bar of choc (to make your year sweet as choclate and you are such a sweet friend) ...kata2 dorang hahaha lawak siootttt when they said it dalam bentuk poem 

and i also have a surprise from Malaysia ...tengah kat opis before gi dinner with the gang, tetiba dapat whatsapp from Dr M ..it was a video of them singing Happy birthday ...dengan penuh perasaan ...sangat terharu akak tau ....and they did that masa dorang sedang jamuan makan2 at our hari bersama fakulti ...that made it much more memorable and touching!!! Thank you Dr M - my mentor - and lovely colleagues and friends - Bemen ...Kiky and Tijot! you guys rock!!!!!

and another memorable event on my birthday ... a big quake struck that very night! magnitude 5.1 and gegaran dirasai for 10-20 seconds .... org celebrate ngan music..ngan mercun ...NZ celebrated by bday with a quake jolt!!!

Ingatkan dah abis kan ...ada lagiiiiii ....came to the office on 5th ...the day after my birthday ..to find a surprise waiting for me in my office ...suffice to say ...another memorable event to mark my 40th bday ....hati ini masih berbunga bunga riang hahahaha ...not gonna elaborate on that ... so, for someone who was dreading the looming 40th bday for months ..for someone yang nak rahsiakan bday dia ..for someone yang ban ppl from mentionning her age ...i atually had a great birthday week ...bukan sehari tu ajer special ...but the whole week ....celebrated my 10 and 20th bday with my family, celebrated my 30th in Europe and now my 40th in NZ ....semoga aku panjang umur and will celebrate my 50th ....with all these special people in my life ....thank you all for such a memorable birthday ...

wise words indeed ...thanks Kiky and Tijot