The Best Surprise Ever!

I love planning surprise parties. I've done so many that I actually consider myself quite a pro. However, the downside to being such a good surprise party planner is that its pretty hard to surprise me back. A few times my loved ones had tried (including darling Hubby) and I always seem to find out, or something would happen such as someone would accidentally tell me about it . Sigh.. Trust me, it wasn't as if I went sniffing about it in the first place.

For the past few years, I've been telling everybody how I was going to organize a big celebration for my 30th birthday. Maybe do a "Michael Jackson" theme where guests come dressed up as their favourite MJ and have a DJ play all the MJ hits all night. Of course, I didn't know back then that I will be heavily pregnant on my 30th birthday.

So when this year came around, I had pretty much decided that I wasn't going to do anything. I was more excited about celebrating the coming of my twin girls and focused instead on the Baby Shower. Besides, I already had the best birthday gift I could ever ask for... my baby girls :)

My birthday came and the first thing I did was wish my sister Happy Birthday as we both share the same birthday, although we were born six years apart. That was some good planning done by my parents there.. LOL! Then I turned to hubby and asked him if I should organize a birthday dinner with my family. He shook his head, and told me that he was going to take me out to a nice dinner. He had even booked a place and all. "Wow!" I thought. "So no need for a big dinner then. Just a nice lil dinner with hubby will do."

On the way to dinner, hubby insisted that we drop by our home in Damansara (we're currently staying at my Mom & Stepdad's til after confinement/pantang) to grab our camera. Although we were a bit late for dinner and I was already starving, I said okay.

Got to our home and as we walked in, I was greeted with this romantic setting, complete with a butler/waiter named Karim waiting for us. I was in shock! My living and dining hall looked different! There was our dining table looking like a 5-star hotel dining set-up, complete with a bottle of date sparkling juice . Hahaha! Isn't this just so beautiful??!



It doesn't just end there, hubby had even gone all the way as to hire two musicians to serenade us through out dinner.


We were served a 3 course dinner. That was the next surprise. Hubby had actually been at the house all afternoon cooking up a storm! This was our main dish. It was delicious!!


I was in complete disbelief the whole time. I couldn't believe that hubby had done all this just for me! You should have seen my face. Dinner was perfect. Karim the butler was at our service the whole time, and our serenading duo surrounded us with beautiful music.

Just when I thought that the surprise was finally over, in came another surprise. This time through the front door. I looked up from our desert and there were my family members and bestfriends walking into our home, with a birthday cake and all.


They even brought more food with them! I was already so full I couldn't imagine stuffing myself with anymore food.


So, of course, I could only look on while my family devoured my favourite food from a popular chinese muslim restaurant "Haji Shahrin Low". It was a beautiful night indeed, with the amazing romantic candle lit dinner with hubby, followed by the surprise entrance of my close family and friends.

Sazzy & Nash's Lil Divas Baby Shower!

A couple of weeks ago, my dearest friend and business partner Aishah Sinclair and old friend Farhan, along with our awesome SinclairFalak team, threw a Baby Shower for hubby and I. Needless to say, it was something that I've been looking forward to for weeks! We started on the Baby Shower plans from a month away and I even took the trouble of putting together my ideas for the theme, games, venue etc. Of course, Aishah kindly told me that as the planning process progressed, there will come a time where I will be completely ignored. Mother-to-be is not allowed to be part of the planning/organizing. So bit my lip and twiddled my thumb I did. It was not easy to let go, I tell you. I've always loved planning and organizing parties, and to be told to sit back and relax while someone takes over the planning was tough!

A month sailed by quickly, and apart from occasionally butting in with ideas on games, menu's and adding on names on the guest lists, I did what I was told to do. To sit back and relax, and left the organizing to the team. It was actually really nice to let go for once actually...


The day of the Baby Shower came, and hubby and I were super excited. We love getting together with our family and friends, and what better way to celebrate the coming of the twins but with the people we love. When we walked in to the Baby Shower, we were completely blown away with the impressive set-up done by my team. Everyone looked amazing in their pastel coloured outfits. (I instructed everyone to come wearing according to the theme colour - pastel pink, purple, blue or green. Control Queen I was)

Farhan, who was in charge of the decorations, had gone all out in decking out the place according to the theme I wanted. Lil Divas Baby Shower was well under waaayyy... Here are some beautiful pictures of the Baby Shower taken by Ena :)





Baby clothes courtesy of Soraya Ann, Aishah's lil angel :) Thank you Soraya for loaning us your baby clothes for the day.




The venue was chosen by me - The Pink Sage Diner at Solaris Dutamas. I was confident with the venue. I knew guests would love it as it had an open air concept and a very very retro feel to it, with booths and sofas to hang out in/on. Big biiiig thanks to my friend and owner of the diner Noreen Ramli. She and her team came up with a delicious teatime set to serve all my guests.





These darling "Red Velvet cupcakes" were done by our lovely ex-staff Suhana Roslan. If you think they look delicious, wait til you try them! Guests were ooh-ing and aah-ing over them. Thanks Sue for these delicious cupcakes! They're absolutely divine.

Arrival of guests. My team welcoming my family members and giving out the goodie bags. Big thanks to Adidas, Kiehls and Hershey chocolates for giving us goodies!!

My two lovely emcee's Aishah and Daphne. They rocked the party!




Nash and I were called up to the front of course, so that they could put on the "Diva" and "Divo" sash (made by dear designer friend Amir Luqman) on us, and also to give a thank you speech to our guests





A "Daddy game" was played and it was a hit! The game had people roaring with laughter.




Since my birthday was merely a few days away, the team decided to surprise me and my sister Fiza (who shares the same birthday as me, 10th March) with a birthday cake and song. Awwww!


We invited a few close media friends of ours to grace our event. Huge thank you's to Opie from Kosmo, JD from Berita Harian, Faizal from Kosmo, Malay Mail and Hello! magazine.



E News Asia also came to cover our Baby Shower. Here's a pic of the gorgeous producer Joanne de Rozario interviewing us :)





Guests mingling and tingling away



Aishah, me, Uncle Joey and Farhan. The Lil Divas baby Shower team.



Looking gorgeous ladies! And baby :)



My dearest girlfriends and their lil tots :)



My beautiful crazy family. I love you all very much!





At the end of the day, when the guests had left, except for a selected few, Nash and I sat back and looked at each other in amazement. It was the most perfect baby shower anyone could ever have. To be surrounded by the people you love is a blessing, and we couldn't have asked for more. Thank you to everyone who made this baby shower happen. We love you from the bottom of our hearts and will always remember this amazing day. Now, we're just waiting for the arrival of our beautiful twin girls. We can't wait to meet them!

Ribena

Towards the end of my second trimester, hubby and I decided to move into my grandparent's place in Ampang, where my Mom and Stepdad were temporarily staying as well, while waiting for their new house to be ready. That was somewhere in mid February.

Now it's mid March so we've roughly been here for a month. Of course hubby and I do occasionally go back to check on the house and our assistants drops by once every two days to feed the cats. I miss home, but its nice being here. Waking up in the morning is a noisy affair, with us talking over breakfast and going through each others plans for the day. Its normally just the two of us when we're at home, or sometimes I eat breakfast alone as hubby has early morning meetings at times. However here in Ampang, the mornings is what we malays would call "Meriah" :)

Work has definitely slowed down for me, except for the occasional photo shoots and media appearances that I have to make. I also go to SinclairFalak's office once or twice a week only as I can work from home. Thanks to my lovely biz partner Aishah Sinclair for holding the fort while I go through my last trimester! Days are not as hectic as it used to be and I'm slowly getting used to the rhythm. I have to! Its not like I can move much nowadays! Sigh.. Patience Sazzy... just 2 more months to go..

Anyway, one afternoon while I was lying down on my bed, taking a small break from being in front of the computer too long, my grandmother (Nenek) knocked on my bedroom door. I was tired, as most women are at this time of pregnancy and getting out of bed is work, literary! So I was feeling slightly annoyed at the fact that I had to haul myself off the bed and answer the door. My Nenek was still waiting outside patiently as I slowly made my way. I started thinking things such as "I wish she would understand that I'm tired and that I'm in dire need of a nap instead of knocking at my door and insisting that I get up!" But of course I didn't say anything. She is my Nenek after all.

Still feeling a bit anoyed, I opened the door to find my Nenek standing there with a smile on her face and a bottle of Ribena in her hand. She knows I like Ribena and of course it was for me. She proudly held it up and said "I got this for you. I bought two bottles when I went out just now because I knew you would have liked one too."

Now this is coming from an elderly woman of 75, could hardly walk fast due to age and is suffering from cataract (a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision)

I'm pregnant and tired, now, but I will get my health and my strength back after giving birth Insya Allah. However, this is my Nenek's condition as of now and chances of it improving are low. Even then, she had gone through the trouble of purchasing one bottle of Ribena for me and when she got home, had excitedly but slowly made her way to my bedroom to give me this drink.

I looked at her face and am reminded of how much I love her. She's been my Nenek, my guardian, my second mother, ever since I was a baby. And nothing as challenging as her cataract could get in her way of being that wonderful grandmother that she has always been for me. I felt ashamed for thinking like such a brat just a couple of seconds ago. Here is unconditional love, love that knows no bounderies, no pain and no time.

I learned a powerful lesson at that second. That we must always appreciate what we have, even when we are feeling down and not quite a 100%. We must always remind ourselves of the things that matters most and cherish the people that matters most. I love my Nenek. And she will always be my Nenek. And no matter what happens, I am committed to being the best granddaughter I could possibly be for her :)

My Nenek proudly holding her first cicit (great-granddaughter) Lil Baby Maya. Also, my first ever niece :)

PESANAN DARIPADA QUE !