post this video here!
HE. IS. SO. GOOD! Even if you are not into poetry, or the spoken word you gotta listen to his piece titled ‘Corner Store Folklore’.
And I just wrote an entry in Malay before this of how much I love poetry..*sigh*
Thanks iMuslim for this video!
(entry in Malay language)
Ah, aku baru sudah membaca satu blog entry yang puitis amat sampai aku rasa ingin bagitahu orang punya blog itu, wahai saudari, silalah karangkan puisi-puisi indah kamu dan, kompilasikanlah – akulah orang pertama yang akan membeli!
Aku baru sedar (mungkin dah lama), aku memang suka puisi. Dalam bahasa Melayu ka, Inggeris ka, Bahasa Indonesia ka. Walaupun ramai orang tengok Ada Apa Dengan Cinta kerana Rangganya, aku kerana puisinya. (eh, sikit-sikit ada juga kerana Rangganya, heh).
Ah, bagusnya kalau aku juga punya suara hati yang hikmat seperti pemuisi-pemuisi ini (eh, adakah perkataan pemuisi?)
Nah, inilah masalahnya. Penguasaan bahasa yang lemah amat. Sampai diri sendiri baca (tulisan sendiri) pun rasa nak termuntah. Uweek.
Tapi itu tidak memberhentikan aku untuk terus baca puisi. Dengar puisi. Intai blog orang tulis ala-ala puisi. (kadang-kadang konon-konon cuba tulis puisi )
Terima kasih ya orang-orang yang tulis kata-kata indah untuk aku baca. Keindahan yang beri aku ceria. Benar ni. Sungguh. Ceria seperti ada cahaya menyuluh dalam dada. Cerah dan gembira.
Terima kasih ya. Terima kasih! 
Festive Friday: Simple Life
“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like’ -Will Rogers
Ouch. (right?)
One of the most effective ways to keep our financial health in check is ‘to simplify our lives’. Live below our means. Nope, in one of the stricter personal finance guru’s advice – live WELL below our means. What then happens when we live well below our means?
We live a simple life 
Now I found this tied nicely with Islamic teaching that we should not live indulgently. We should be mindful of our possessions. Hoard not things that we do not need. In our modern plastic-moneyed world – swipe not things we do not need! Now what then happens when we do not live indulgently?
We live a simple life
Of course, since we are living in a material world, where our retail shopping complexes are so big it can be seen from the outer space, living a simpler life can be quite a challenge. But it is a challenge that should be taken by us. Especially after we knew about The Story of Stuff.
Oh, you didn’t know? You should go and watch it then!
It was such an eye-opening story and it’s a story that need to be told. So do watch that story. It’s presented in a fun and entertaining, yet very informative way. You will never look at your stuff the same way again!
(if it’s too slow to load from the page, you can watch it on Youtube too)
Trendy Thursday: Hibiscus
Inspired by rows of red hibiscus on lush green leaves right along Jalan Parlimen (Parliament Road) in KL, I decided to play with red and green colour coordination and created Hibiscus!
Hibiscus – by Elwarda on Polyvore.com
I keep the whole look clean leaving the colours to speak for itself. And, I couldn’t resist but to add a red flower brooch ala Carrie to the dress . I wanted to add prints to the overall look, perhaps a printed scarf. But I always find it difficult to find prints that I like. So this is the set for today!
A bit of information, hibiscus is also the national flower of Malaysia. In Malay it’s called ‘Bunga Raya’.
Isn’t it oh so pretty?
Wonderful Wednesday: Tabbouleh, Mohalabia and Crossed-eye cat
Main actor: Tabbouleh
Main actress: Mohalabia
Supporting casts: Lamb, and chicken, and rice, and some vegetable soup
Prop 1: Big Z
Prop 2: Dessert-monster
Cameo appearance: Crossed-eye cat, as crossed-eye cat
Location: Al-Rawsha restaurant on one fine afternoon (we happened to bring our camera this time )
Trading Tuesday: Turning dreams into profit
A few years ago, one of my dreams is to teach belly dance to women. Let me tell you the story.
I was an over-worked, over-stressed and under-talented student of accounting and finance. Having to compete with brains from all over the world in one of the UK’s top business school was pushing me over the edge, one calculator click at a time.
For the sake of my sanity, I looked for a physical activity that I can do or learn – and I found belly dancing!
The reason I chose to learn belly dance is because it was taught in an all women class. I don’t need to worry about clothing and partnering and stuff. Easy peasy, I thought.
Little did I know that I will find freedom and happiness in belly dancing, or the more appropriate name, Middle Eastern Dance. Then and there I decided that my dream after I graduated – is to teach Middle Eastern Dance to women.
(picture of the opening performance by me and my students during my last hafla)
Armed with a degree in accounting and finance, and only my hip, I knocked on doors offering to teach Middle Eastern Dance to women. It was very difficult at first, but I was determined to live out my dream, and praise to Almighty, live out my dream I did!
A few years down the line, not only I am living my dream, but I am also making profit out of it!
I believe that all dreams can be turned into reality, if you want it bad enough. Start working on your dreams today and see where it will lead you. If you do it right, it might also lead you to a path of profit 
Do check out my Middle Eastern Dance business blog, Elwarda Dance. And while you are at it, do check out my Online Accessories blogshop too, Elwarda Accessories.
I have been sleeping a lot these 2 3 days. Like a lot, a lot! Perhaps my body is telling me that I need to rest. So slept like a log I did.
Then in my wake up time in between, I watched movies.
These are some of it:
Vicky Christina Barcelona
- I really want to go to Barcelona after watching it!
Slumdog Millionaire
- great movie. Dr. G go watch it! (if you haven’t already)
Children of Heaven
- I cried buckets!
The accidental husband
- I like Uma Thurman in Quarantin Tarantino’s film better. Tall girls aren’t romantic comedy material.
How to lose friends and alienate people
- Funny, funny, funny!
Eagle Eye
- I watched the second half because I was sleeping (in between movies, during movies). Ah the usual Hollywood tebabow-tebabowww-everybody-is-terrorist movie. Boooring!
Oh one thing I noticed is, in the 2 of the movies that I watched, I seen a lot of Indian influence and culture in the movie. (well, one of it is predominantly Indian for obvious reasons but can’t be stated here, just in case it became a spoiler a certain somebody ).
I found this really refreshing in American produced films. I used to saw a lot of Indian culture in British films, but not so much in American movies. But I am liking the recent development.
Like in Heroes, one of the reason I like watching it is because there’s Hiro Nakamura and Dr. Suresh and the Hesian guy that spoke in this delicious sounding accent! Although my interest in the series is slowly diminishing due to the good-bad-good again character. Ah I found it too complicated 
I always like colours I guess. Either in clothing, in fruit, in veges, in people. I need to see variety and lots of it! That is also another reason why I can’t help buying the crappy gossip magazines just to see Angelina Jolie’s colourful bunch! ehehe.
Oh I ate a lot of junk food too. Way to add bloatedness to the already bloated me. twistieshulahoopstwistieshulahoopskerepekbiscuits. Argh!!
Festive Friday: Zikr lullaby
‘Hi people. Adult Naziehah is too drained from the heat and too bloated from salt to write long thoughtful entry on today’s Festive Friday entry so she asked me (Toddler Naziehah) to talk to you.
I am going to talk about my mama’s zikr lullaby.
I like it when my mama put me to sleep with her zikr lullaby. It is the most soothing sound ever. My mama said she sang zikr lullaby to me so that when I grow up it will be the sound that I will always remember.
Her zikr lullaby goes like this:
Subhanallah walhamdulillah wa laila hailallah wallahu akbar.
Did your mama put you to sleep with zikr lullaby too?”
Trendy Thursday: Neutral Metallic
Neutral – by Elwarda on Polyvore.com
I love colours and most likely to choose the most contrasting and playful colours for my collection. Inspired by Sabrina’s outfit in her Holiday style video from The Closet series, I decided to expand my horizon (colourwise) and chose neutral and metallic colour for my sets!
To those who didn’t know, this is lovely Sabrina and check out her blog at Sliceoflemon.com and enjoy her great fashion style videos at The Closet!
I kep the silhouette simple with a silk metallic grey blouse, a black pant and an off-white scarf. To add a bit of jazz and glamour to this outfit I accessorise with a metallic gold earring and a gold-rimmed sunglasses (which is not just a great fashion accessory but very, very important item to protect the eye) and I finish it off with a silver sandal. Taraa!
If you are the sort of person who prefer neutral and muted colour for your outfit, try and accessorise with metallic; gold or silver accessories for a touch of fun and variety in your look. After all, accessories (not specifically diamond) are always a women’s best friend
Wonderful Wednesday: Dancing together
Yes. We did a little dancing sometimes. Nothing too fancy. Just a few steps left, right, front, back – cha cha cha!
When we first got married, I have exhausted all ways to cajole him into dancing with me. You see, it’s a mammoth task to peel a geek off the computer screen. But with sheer love and determination (and a healthy amount of nagging ), I have managed to teach him a little something.
He won’t admit it in thousand years, but I think he’s starting to like dancing! (ok moving left and right to the rythm but that’s close no?)
