Mothers are God's gift to mankind

Photo taken by rinnah at Lake Toba, Indonesia

rinnah would like to wish the following wonderful ladies a very happy Mother's Day. I salute you for your courage, your stamina and most of all your love for your families. It's not easy to be a mom (dunno when will be my turn) even though this is the highest calling any female will have in her life.

~ my Mom! (the Ellen O'Hara to my Scarlett)
~ my Mama, my mom's mother who looks down from heaven
~ the Giddy Tigress, mommy of Ethan boy
~ Eastcoastlife, mommy of Jaymes
~ King's Wife, mommy of Allyfeel and Sam
~ Nyonya Penang, mommy of two boys
~ Laundry Amah, mommy of Kieran and Kylie
~ Zara & Zaria's mommy
~ Everyday Healy, mommy of Elizabeth
~ Poey Chin, new mommy to Rachel
~ Wennnn (soon to be mommy of BB, any time now!)
~ (Momma) Misti, who mothers us all in blogland
~ Chev, mommy of Ah Boy
~ Misha's mommy
~ Trinity
~ Collin's mommy
~ Zewt's mommy, we remember you even though you are no longer with us on earth
~ And last but certainly not the least! uhm, Adrian's wifey. :o)

My wishes also go out to all the mothers of the bloggers I read and follow in my sidebar and RSS feeder. I apologize if I've missed out any lovely blogging mommies whom I read or who read It's all about the spin...

And finally, a touching blog post by stars go blue on what every mother wishes for her children.

Happy Mother's Day.

Baby you're so wonderful

Today is a very special day.

Today, a beautiful baby angel came to earth to become the daughter of a special couple. :o)

Everyone, say hello to Princess Leia baby Rachel, the newborn daughter of Adino and Poey Chin!

Dearest baby princess Rachel, jiejie rinnah wishes for you :

"God's bountiful grace, beauty, blessings and presence to be ever-present in your life.

The brightest sunshine, clearest skies and coolest breeze to accompany you every step of your journey in life.

That you will experience the deepest, purest, truest love, joy and happiness always.

To be the greatest blessing ever to your parents, family and to all whom you meet."

I can't wait to meet you now and when you grow up. :o)

Luv & hugs,
jiejie rinnah


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And you know what? Baby Rachel made her debut just in time for Poey Chin to celebrate her first ever Mother's Day! So congratulations to both Adino and Poey Chin, and a very special first Mother's Day greeting to Poey Chin. Rest well and be back soon! (Our Scramble games will be waiting for you. Hehe.)

First appearance day!

I'm not out to steal anyone's thunder *grin*, but here's a welcome to the world shoutout to baby Collin, newborn son of Allandog, the brother of the Giddy Tigress! Some of you may remember that Allan was the chap I supported at the MRSC last December. :o)

Baby Collin, jiejie wishes you a good long and healthy life, superb intelligence and physique, prosperity and success overflowing, and most of all, love, joy and happiness everyday. *muack*

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And you know, twenty something years ago, on January 28, a baby girl made HER first appearance in the world. And that baby was me la. *grin*

I had initially thought that this year's birthday would be quieter than previous years and that maybe I could slide past it unnoticed, but no... other people had other plans. Like...

~ may's super duper early birthday blogpost

~ l b's birthday blogpost with tag present & very on-time SMS all the way from Italy

~ the giddy tigress' blogpost & mystery pressie (but mysterious no more since I've opened it!). Thank you so much dear! How'd you know that it was the type of thing I'd like?

~ angel's birthday shoutout

~ chevchen's birthday blogmilk... hehe. Got milk? *wipes milk moustache*

~ doreen's birthday wishes

~ Birthday wishes from family, friends and colleagues

~ And oh! all the bloggerific birthday greetings from bloggers all over - mistipurple, narrowband, paris beaverbanks, zewt, pelf, adrian, eastcoastlife, adino, mudpie, kyh, jemima, cocka doodle, huisia, leonard, laundry amah, trinity, bongkerz, huei, _butt, kat

~ One birthday dinner on 26 Jan at DELIcious

~ One birthday lunch on 28 Jan at Secret Recipe

~ A karaoke session on 31 Jan at RedBox Plus

~ One more birthday lunch on 01 Feb at The Daily Grind

~ One more birthday dinner on 01 Feb at Opus Bistro

So, this year was more happening than I thought it would be. *grin*

p.s. I haven't had the time to do up THHC charts for January, so bear with me, k?

'Tis the season to be jolly

Fa la la la la la la la la...

Rinnah would like to wish all her readers...

A Blessed Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happier New Year!!!

Hope you have a wonderful time feasting with family and loved ones. Now remember, don't get fat ya? Teeheehee!

Picture credit to Lloydyweb

My Christmas Wishlist 2007

Short note: Idea copy-cat 'garfielded' from nadnut's post here and in parody of my post on expensive wishes here.

All rinnah wants for Christmas is...

1. M_ B_ _ _
2. For dad to get better quick
3. All the love in the world
4. To lose ten pounds by New Year's Day
5. Be a part of church life again
6. Snow?
7. A long holiday
8. Bonus
9. A pair of Aldo / Nine West / Guess super kao high heels
10. A DSLR camera
11. Increment
12. Something sparkly in a Tiffany blue box
13. A smaller butt
14. Kenny Sia's blog popularity
15. LB's creativity
16. Better photography skills
17. The entire Heroes season 1 & 2 DVD set
18. Novels by Stephanie Laurens or Mary Balogh
19. An Asus EEE PC
20. Traffic-free days
21. Limitless credit card for shopping sprees
22. A bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and walk-in closet
23. For my little car to be brand new again
24. Plasma TV
25. A proper storage closet for my numerous pairs of shoes
26. To take my MBA
27. A night out at the movies
28. To attack Haagen Dazs ice-cream buffet
29. Not gain anymore weight
30. Good hair days, all the time

Now, do you think Santa still has time to fulfill my wishlist? *grin*

Looking forward to X'mas!

It's time for me to start my annual countdown!

What am I talking about?

It's getting close to Christmas time, y'all! Woot!

Time to dig out the old tree and deck its boughs with artificial cherries, strings of twinkling lights and festoon it with red velvet ribbons. Oh wait. I don't do that every year. Mum does. LOL! What I do is drag out all my favorite Christmas songs and begin to play them in an endless loop that drives everyone else nuts. Kakakaka. You'd be driven to distraction too, because I like to start the Christmas affair early. Like say, the first of November onwards. Teeheehee!

Now, let's segue to a feelgood story. From the annals of 'How Rinnah Began To Blog'. LOL!

'Twas very near to last year's X'mas when one day Rinnah went bloghopping. Actually, she was looking for reviews about that Just Dessert place in The Curve, and somehow or other clicked her way over to the site of a blogger called... Little Miss May. How intriguing, rinnah thought. Little Miss May. She liked the way the name sounded and thought it was fate when lo and behold, the song of the week in the rightbar was none other than Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You. Which happened to be the very same song that rinnah was listening to that very day. (Of course, it also helped that rinnah enjoyed visiting Little Miss May's blog for the pretty pictures and light-hearted blog writing.) And that, my friends, is how I stumbled upon the first of THHC blogs and met all of you wunnerful people. *grin*

Why am I recounting this tale of yesteryear? Because of L B lah. He wants to know: What am I looking forward to at the end of 2007?

I am looking forward to these things...

~ One more year of good blogging ahead of me
~ Making more new blogfriends
~ Christmas season!
~ Kisses under mistletoe Carolling
~ Shopping mall X'mas decorations
~ Pressies and cards
~ Christmas visitations
~ Snow for a White Christmas That it won't rain Liu-cats and AhBoys-dogs when I wanna go out during the Christmas season
~ Turkey!
~ Firework displays
~ New Year's Eve signalling a new year

Now, may I find out what the Giddy Tigress is looking forward to? *wink*

Bloggity blog blog

Hello? You there. Yes you. No, not the blogger. The other person. The non-blogger. Yeah you. Now that I've gotten your attention... (like any non-bloggers are reading this. LOL!)

Whoever said that blogging was a waste of time has evidently never met the close-knit community of bloggers that I am incredibly lucky to have gotten to know. People like...

~ Giddy Tiger who has become one of my closest blogpals. I think of her like the jie jie I don't have in real life.
~ Simple American my blogging Jedi mentor from across the sea. *big bear hugs*
~ Mistipurple who is always there to make me laugh when I'm down in the dumps and leaves the most encouraging comments in my other blog.
~ L B who also cracks me up with his never-ending pursuit for non-existent chups! And for all the witty one-liners that make him so uniquely LB.
~ Ehon the sampat student do-gooder blogger in Aussie-land who is flying back soon!

There are so many others that I wanna name... but I have to restrict myself or I'll name the whole blogroll! So, to all those I've named above... this award is for you from me. With love. *muacks*

Sing me a song...

Excited! Yes, even though I only can claim third-hand proximity to the event. I mau tumpang spotlight mah. *preens* LOL! You see, my good galpal Giddy Tiger's brother, is one of the nine finalist songwriters for this year's Malaysian Revival Songwriting Competition (MRSC) 2007. Woohoo! Way to go, GT's bro!

The following is cut-n-pasted from GT's blogpost here. (I'm too lazy to retype it, beyond making sure that the links are intact. LOL!)

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The concert will be held on Dec 2nd 2007 (Sunday) at the Matrade Hall in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur. This charity event is held to raise funds for the National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia, Real Love Ministries (RLM - a counseling program to help the homosexual community) and NIE Asia (helping to build wells in Cambodia). Thus, invitation and/or tickets to this event is by donation only:

GREEN TICKETS
Donation below RM 50 (Minimum RM 10)

BLUE TICKETS (entitled to a CD as token of appreciation)
Donation above RM 50

PINK TICKETS (entitled to a CD as token of appreciation) - VIP
Donation above RM 200

Note: The CD above would either be Carbon (Compilation of Finalists from MRSC 2005) or Rizuan the Musical (Compilation of Finalists from MRSC 2006)

If you are interested to get the tickets, please contact Giddy Tiger or check out her brother’s blog for details. For more information about this spectacular event, visit the organizer’s website here.

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You can listen to the finalists' composition here and vote too, if you're so inclined.

I will be going to support GT's brother, anyone coming with me? *grin*

This is a community post brought to you by rinnah

It's Your Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Wennnn!

Have a wonderful fun day with lots of yummy food!

*muacks*

Four Seasons Paris

I love Paris in the spring time
I love Paris in the fall
I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles
I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles
~ Frank Sinatra ~

No no no. That didn't sound quite right. Let's try again.

I love Paris in ParisBeaverbanks.com
I love Paris in MyWomenStuff.com
I love Paris in All-AboutShopping.com
I love Paris anywhere she may dotcom!
~ rinnah ~

Much better. *grin* Eh, I know it's not exactly Keats but it's the thought that counts, rite? *bigger grin*

Happy Birthday to Ms Beaverbanks! May your blogs rise in popularity and your sponsored posts keep on flowing while your readers multiply! Hugs, rinnah

Slow seduction

I a m s o t e m p t e d b y t h e i P o d N a n o

Until yesterday, I had lived in blissful ignorance of the global phenomenon that is the iPod. iPod, what's that, I scoffed. Any mp3 player would serve my purpose. I remained indifferent to the wave of people rushing towards making the iPod a best seller. Then yesterday, someone thrust into my hands, an 8GB silver iPod Nano and left it there for slightly less than an hour. Free. No charge. Just test drive it for two hours and then return the unit to them. I think it's a pretty cool marketing gimmick.

I was first impressed by the slimness of the Nano. It was so slim it was indecent. I could hardly feel it in my hands. Then the cool silver surface called to me. I was drawn to the shiny reflective surface and the simplicity of the white buttons on the front. But, the thing that sealed the deal was... the vibrant colour screen. Oh! It took my breath away. I mean, just look at the explosion above! Before you can say anything else... boom, I was in lust with it. LOL!

This is so going on my wishlist. *hint hint*

So there you have it. My first steps to the Apple camp. Signor LB, are you pleased yet? *grin*

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Oh, and also a welcome to Ehon for having officially crossed over to the Dark Side of blogging! Teeheehee!

Giddy giddy giddy

It's a very special day today! Why?

It's Giddy Tiger's birthday!

Yes, my galpal of the blogosphere and Ethan's mommy is one year older younger and prettier today.

Now just imagine, if I had not started blogging, I wouldn't get to know her. If my curiousity hadn't led me to click on her unique blogosphere name (how could you not be intrigued by someone calling themselves a giddy tiger?) from Simple American's website, my RSS feeder would be much the poorer for it (the lovely tigress keeps 3 sites). If I hadn't gotten into an email discussion about PPP blogging with GT and Paris Beaverbanks, I wouldn't have gotten to become fast friends with her. Whoever said blogging was detrimental to social life? *big wide grin*

So dear GT, here's wishing you a fun-filled year of good things, blessings spilling over, neverending joy, moolah increasing and love overflowing. *hugs* XOXOXO

p.s. And I also pray you're recovered enough to enjoy your day today!

p.p.s. I don't know why, but I always associate a bouncing Tigger with your nickname! LOL!

Sneak preview

I promised you all a filler post, right? Well, get an eyeful of this beauty...

In loving memory of Freedom (2007)

Freedom aka Freddie boy (23/08/2007 - 10/09/2007)

Freddie entered our lives on 01 September 2007 after the story of his rather dramatic rescue. We estimate that Freddie was born somewhere around 23 August 2007, and he left the earth on 10 September 2007, one day short of 9/11 and just shy of three weeks old. No bigger than a hamster, Freddie resembled a miniature tiger cub at the head. Lil' round head, big black eyes, small pink mouth and the coloring and stripes of a tiger cub. Had he lived, he would have been a big cat, for his body was long and his paws large.

Our favorite memories of Freddie are when he was taking his milk. It was a struggle between human and cat to feed him at first. He would excitedly mew (in a very loud voice for something so wee in size!) and search for the teat but promptly spit it out when he realized that it was a rubber teat and not mother cat's nipples. But of course hunger would overcome instinct and he would reluctantly suck on the cat milk bottle we got for him. Upon drinking, he would pause to take a breather every now and then, mouth dripping in milk and looking like a poster boy for those Got Milk? advertisements. When he had had his fill, he would contently purr like a miniature motorized motorboat, going brrrrrrrrrr and he is also the only cat I know who mews like this, "Nyek! Nyek!" LOL!

Because of his previous traumatic experience, he felt insecure being left alone in open spaces and would mew worriedly and anxiously at the top of his voice. He loved the security blanket feel of this towel and would mew in complaint if you removed it. He was also a very clever and vocal kitty, communicating with us constantly with his varied mews and ever so alert to the slightest sound. If he realized you were there, he would mew at the top of his voice to be fed or held or played with and wouldn't stop until he was sure you were gone. He was a quick learner too, adapting to the milk bottle and resisting any attempts to train him otherwise.

So wee, so adorable, and within the space of one short week, he managed to wriggle his way into our hearts. Love you, Freddie boy.

Goodbye Freddie

Just received a phone call from my mum...

Freddie has passed away.

Will update later. Am too upset to write about him now. :o(

Floria - Putrajaya Flower & Garden Exhibition 2007

Nothing spectacular happened on Merdeka Day eve. In fact, I was asleep at the stroke of midnight. No fireworks to see! Boohoo.

I was in yellow on Merdeka Day when I made the trip up to Putrajaya for the floral exhibition. So sad, no one was attired in the colour save for one or two kids. Malaysians are a sad lot. Looks like it's back to moaning at the mamak then.

I may not be able to post anything else tomorrow as I have to make a trip down to Melaka with the family. It's an event of sorts as one of my cousin brothers is a pastor of a local church there and he's preaching tomorrow. The family will be there to give him our support.

So here's an early birthday shoutout to Chen! May you be happy happy always and keep on sampat-ing in blogland and on Facebook! Since you are always posting pictures of weird weird tei fruits and animals etc, I hope you enjoy the pics I took at the Floria Putrajaya...

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The family made a trip out to Putrajaya on Friday to look see look see the Floria - Putrajaya Flower & Garden Exhibition 2007. We were supposed to go there in the morning, but slept in a bit and by the time we were ready to go, it was time for lunch. So we lunched first before heading out to Putrajaya and after a detour or two (to see some other stuff) we finally arrived at 3.00pm! Now Floria is being held at the lakeside in Precinct 2 near the Seri Wawasan bridge. Some of the outdoors photos below:

After that we moved indoors to the Floral Pavilion where all the displays were shown. There were crowds of people - really people mountain people sea. Plenty of photobugs too - amateur ones with normal digital cameras, semi-professionals / professionals with their big DSLRs and those who just wanted in on the fun with their cameraphones. I found the lighting indoors to be really bad - dim and orange - that made the poor flowers and plants look positively half dead in some places. Actually, they were already dying to begin with because this weekend is the tailend of the exhibition. And with the 101 people milling around all jostling for good positions to see the flowers and taking photos left, right and center with flash made it rather hard to take any good photos of your own. Apologies in advance if the pictures have a somewhat orange-y tint; I hate taking photos with flash as I think it makes most shots look unnatural and I prefer natural lighting as it more accurately reflects the setting. The following is a selection of the better pictures of the still alive! floral exhibits from the individual exhibitions:

There were the cutest things to photograph in the hall where they laid out the fine dining arrangements... have a peek and doncha think it's so kawaii? And finally, here are the individual arrangements and the assorted knicks, knacks and bric a brac or loose ends of the floral stuff:

Unfortunately, we did not stay for the fireworks as we wanted to get out before the people came in. (But I always get to see 'em via Narrowband's website. LOL!) And just as we left the Floral Pavilion, big fat drops of rain spattered down, forcing everyone to seek shelter. So, we went home! Heh. That ended the excursion to Putrajaya on a rather wet note.

Happy Merdeka Day!

Happy Merdeka Day folks!

Malaysia celebrates 50 years of independence today. We've come a long way, haven't we? What are you doing?

Enjoy the long weekend, sleep in, watch the National Day parade, eat out, balik kampung, cause a traffic jam (or two. Or three. Or more!), go shopping (try not to curse if you can't get a parking space or get put off with the seas of people there), see fireworks or whatever celebration it seems that shopping malls have lined up in conjunction with this day. It ain't just another public holiday.

Oh yeah, and are you yellow today?

A little Z before I zzzzz...

Z is the last letter of the alphabet. Some pronounce it "zach" whilst others pronounce it "zed". It's written with three strokes and it's also the mark of Zorro. Z is a very unique alphabet, and it seems fitting that someone very unique has a name beginning with "Z".

So today, I would like to wish ZEWT a very...

Zesty
Zelicious
Zonderful
Zurprising
Zpecial
Zirthday!

And also a birthday shout-out to King's Wife as I understand it's her birthday too!

Because of you...

... there was me.

H A P P Y F A T H E R ' S D A Y , D A D ! ! ! ! ! !

And to all the daddies in the world celebrating this day too. *hugs*

H M D ! ! ! ! ! !

H A P P Y M O T H E R ' S D A Y

M U M ! ! !

I L O V E Y O U ! !

F R O M Y O U R B A B Y G I R L

*Note: Picture taken by yours truly on a day-trip to Cameron Highlands on Labour Day. :o)