Liebstered.

I haven't received an award in such a long time (has no idea) and BOOM, I've been awarded by two people for the same award. So, its the Liebster award or something.

It means dearest. Hmmm. That is cute. Of course, here are the terms of service that comes with the award:

The rules:

1. Give 10 random facts about myself.

2. Answer the questions given to me by my wonderful nominators.

3. Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers.

4. Write 11 questions for them to answer.

Oh god, 10 random facts about myself.

Here we go.

1. I'm in love with Twix. You know, the chocolate. We don't have them here but I bought some at the Jeddah airport and well, now I regret not stuffing myself with bars of Twix from the supermarket near the hotel I stayed at in Mecca. The chocolates were cheap =.=

2. I recently made an Instagram. Expect pictures of my cat, my books and food. Username: hanisgorgeous

3. I can't watch romance movies for the reason that I believe it will only give people false hope. I'll make a face whenever anyone suggest a rom-com. In fact, the only one I can tolerate is Ten Things I Hate About You (tears up every single time) and god, 500 Days of Summer? I hated Summer right away.

4. I get pissed off when I see trash published and become bestsellers *coughscoughsTwilightand50Shadescoughscoughs* because come on, there are plenty of other, more deserving books to be recognised and become bestsellers. Not to mention, my manuscript.

5. Talking about bestsellers, I avoid them until the whole rage about them has died down. Either I read them when the word-of-mouth are whispers or after the enthusiasm has died.

6. Everytime I look at my books, I imagine getting a nice big bookcase and then buying more.

7. I hate throwing things away. Just few days ago I cleared away some books/reports from my high school days. And the bundle of scrap paper and notes from my Diploma days.

8. I don't have a type. But if you ask what kind of a guy I find physically attractive, I would tell you Caucasian or Indian/Pakistani + Caucasian or Indian/Pakistani guys who were brought up in the western part of the world. I know, that last one is odd but there is just something about the upbringing that makes them oh so attractive.

9. Koala bears? I have no idea why people think they're cute.

10. I have the urge to quote lyrics into conversation.

Okay, time to answer those questions given by my nominators, such wonderful people.

First up is AZ:

1) The moment you regret the most

Hmm. I can't think of one. Maybe that moment I started having midnight snacks that were more like a second dinner. HAHAHAHAHA. 

Okay, be serious Hanis.

Hmmm. I seriously can't think of one that qualifies as "the most" . Oh wait, what about the time I gave that letter to this one crush of mine who let his friends read it and made fun of me on Myspace? God. I'm gonna nominate the moments I get certain crushes.

2) The moment you value the most

I must be a bad person as I can't think of an answer for this one. The moment I got my S3. HAHAHAHA.

Fine. Seriously, I can't think.

3) If your life was about to be turned into a film, who would you want to potray you?

That girl from Suits. The sexy, caramel skinned one who's having a thingie with Mike. Or Maya Karin. Can the guy from I Am Number Four play my husband?

4) Which song describes your life

There is no song that do that. Other than If Only For One Night or Sweet Dreams are Made of This.

5) Your biggest fear

Hmm. Being rejected. Or falling from a high place with no chance of being saved.

6) What is your most embarrasing habit

Snoring. I do snore.

7) What is your favourite quote

If you're going through hell, keep on going- Winston Churchill

8) If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life what would it be

Fish and chips, with a lemon wedge on the side with tartar sauce. Does that count as one thing? Or just a Chicken Slices Sub from Subway.

9) Your dream job?

A food and travel show host.

10) Which book made you cry?

Plenty but the one on my mind now is The Time Traveller's Wife.

11) Which film made you cry?

Last one, that I remember was Despicable Me. I cry at cartoons every single time.

Whew, that was hard. Now, its time for Laila:

1. A book that made you [want to?] throw it across the room?

This Malay novel that my brother has to read for school. God, it reminded me of why I hate most Malay novels where the female characters are weak and idiotic. I know there are some novels which aren't like that, but that is the minority. I ended up going "I hate the daughter, I hate the mother, I hate the father. I only like nothing of this." while vowing to write to the author a hate letter. I didn't.

2. What was the last lie you told? (assuming you have lied :P )

Last one I remember telling was :

"I only had two currypuff."

I had 3 currypuffs and few other things. With a cup of tea. A small Kit Kat and a mini bag of Nips.

3. How long is your thumb?

Half of the height of my S3.

4. What did you eat for breakfast four days ago?

Scrambled egg.

5. Have you ever done something violent? If so, what didja do?   

Other than fighting my brother? Or shooting an M17? Nope.

6. What's under your bed?

Luggages. A vaccumm cleaner.

7. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear 'kangaroo'?

Tigger. Cause he's like Roo's role model.

8. What happens to Pinocchio when he says 'I'm lying'?

Its like dividing something by 0. World ends. Or the universe gets jumbled up and we wake up in a whole other universe.

9. Can you stand on your head without leaning against anything?

Hmmmm. No. Hahaha

10. When was the last time you climbed a tree?

I have a fear of ants. Well, I hate how they crawl on my skin. Where do ants like to hang out? Trees. So, never.

11. When someone asks you to tell them about yourself, what do you say?

In my mind:

"I'm Hanis. Hanis means awesome and gorgeous. TRUTH."

In reality:

"Erm .. what do you wanna know?"

And now, since everyone I can possibly nominate has been nominated, I'm gonna ignore the 3rd and 4th rule and instead, give you this picture of me, which shows me attempting a cute Korean style expression.

Tuesday Thoughts.

Its a List about My Toy.

Cons of having a snazzy phone:

1. I get addicted to Temple Run 2.

2. I get super lazy to use my laptop.

3. I get glued to my phone.

4. I get addicted to Instagram. hanisgorgeous is the username.

5. I take vain pictures.

Pros of having a snazzy phone:

1. I get to read my ebooks easily.

2. I can get directions to an unknown place while on the go.

3. I get to read the blogs I follow more easily.

4. I get to take pictures that show my gorgeousness. Such as these two which I took while waiting for Lil Bro to get ready for a wedding.

See, I'm super gorgeous. Hahahahaha. Oh god. I can't get over how one eye is bigger than the other while the eyebrow is a bit arched.

And of course, the make a silly face in front of the camera and go all "Oh my god, I look so awkwarddddd." on Facebook so people can tell you you're pretty.

No. I didn't do that.

Its my version of a duck face. 

And no, my skin ain't the wonderful. Its the lighting and the light sunblock.

But dang, those chairs behind me, beautiful right? Mom says its about 18 years old and people have offered money to buy them from her but hell nah. She knows that they cost a hand and a leg right now if she buys a new one.

Umra: Medina.

After 4 hours of much needed sleep, I woke up at 4am and was forced by Mama to take a shower. Knowing how cold it would be, I put on a t shirt and long pants underneath my abaya before putting on my telekung (white prayer cover I wear). And it was still very very very cold. The walk took us about 5 minutes to get to Masjid Nabawi.

For the first time, I teared up inside the mosque. The sights, the environment and every single thing made me blinked away tears few times. After performing the prayer for entering a mosque, I sat and read the Quran before it was time for the Subuh prayer.

We then had breakfast at the hotel, where the most wonderful spread awaits us. I mostly ate bread, cheese and deli meat. They also had this juice + milk drink in boxes which became a favourite among us. After a nice very short nap, we went back to the mosque for Duha' and I enjoyed the environment once again. 

One thing about my two weeks is that I took a lot of naps. It was normal to wake at 4am and go to bed, earliest at 10.30pm, or the latest was 2.30am. After the Zohor prayer, we had lunch and only had enough time to brush our teeth etc before going back for Asar.

Near the mosque is Medina's branch of Starbucks. A tiny little store where we can only order from the window. The menu was different and I decided to try out the White Chocolate Mocha. It was yummy, but not as good as my favourite Dark Mocha. We then had just enough time to laze for 10 minutes before heading back to mosque.

I know, where did all the time went? Well, as we didn't want to sit outside, we went early to get a nice place. There were so so many people. We stayed there until Isyak, where I usually read the Quran and gossip with Mama about how pretty the abayas are and usually, some kind lady will offer me either chocolate/sweets/raisins/dates and that was common. We'll get back to our hotel around 8.30 pm and have dinner.

And that is how my four days at Medina went, with some variations where I go "shopping" after Isyak, or when we went to visit historical places. Usually, I'll be sleeping in the bus, waking up when we stop to get off the bus and take a closer look.

Even though its kinda routine-ish, I was never bored.

Here are some pictures:

I think this was taken after Zohor. This is in the Nabawi Mosque's court yard. See the umbrella thingies above? They are opened when the sun starts to shine bright right until it sets. Its probably because the floor is  white-ish and they didn't want there to be a major glare. The courtyard is really big, a rectangle around the rectangle mosque.

The path we take to go to the Mosque. Right and left are shops, and people selling things.

Inside the mosque, in an area in the men's section. They said there's about 4400-ish of those pillars. As you can see, there are those umbrellas inside, and according to Lil Bro, they open it sometimes and it becomes very windy.

See how close Starbucks is to the Mosque. I'm the one who's standing right under the green awning, arms crossed.

Sunset, and the umbrellas are closed. God, the view is beautiful.

I think its very easy to get lost in here because the view here, is replicated in nearly every part of the mosque. There's like tons of doors, differing from the numbers and there's plenty of pillars and chandeliers just like that. I remember the first time I set foot in there when I was 11. I spent the first 10 minutes gaping, looking up. You see the gold section on the pillars? I heard those are real gold. Haha. The air conditioning vents are at the base part of the pillars.

They have domes like this all over the Mosque. And sometimes, it slides open and let it gusts of winds and even more pigeons. Yes, pigeons fly around inside, swooping in from the open doors and they're quite tame. They walk around on the carpets, not flying away when people walk by.

The whole mosque is like a shining beacon. What is shown in this picture, is just a small part of the mosque. If you're interested to know how big it is, here is a picture of the whole structure.

Mom, Lil Bro and I after Isyak prayer. Or Subuh. But it was really really cold.

This was taken during one of the visits. As you can see, my sunglasses was my main and must have accessory over there. I think this was taken at a Mosque, I don't remember which one.

Random picture of a house in Medina, near the dates plantation.

The view from the main entrance of our hotel.

Jabal Uhud or Uhud Hill. There's a history to this place, I learned it back in school, had to write an essay on it and I don't remember it =.= . Google it?

Near the dates plantation, was this big store selling all kind of dates. Plain ones, ones soaked in honey, ones with a chocolate coating. Like those colourful wrapped ones. Some have almonds/cashews in them before being coated with chocolate. I is not a fan.

An entrance to the mosque.

In the Raudah section. This is where our Prophet and some of his beloved friends is laid to rest. This section is opened to women at certain times and man, it was really really packed when we went there. I teared up here too. This was taken by Dad, who said it was not as packed at the men's section. Lucky. The way the section is differed from the others is from the pillars, carpeting and walls. Its mostly green where in the other sections, the carpeting is red.

There's 3 doors behind me, and as you can see, all are packed. This is after Subuh.

As you can see inside, those white and grey squares are the arches between the pillars. And it goes on till the other end and it has this visual effect of seeming endless.

As I write this, I felt sad because I miss Medina, I miss going to that Mosque. 

One thing that struck me over there was how funny-ish it was to me to be in such a holy/beautiful place and to look around and see the phones used by the people were mostly those high tech/expensive ones. Iphones, Samsung Galaxy/Note and some Blackberry ones.

On the 2nd last day in Medina, I nearly bumped into a guy that reminds me of E.

Tuesday Thoughts.

How I Got My New Toy.

Results came out on the 15th February. Which means that the emails were sent starting from midnight, and the website was available around 9pm of the 15th. I stayed up, nervous, biting my nails as I tell myself that no, I'm not failing that Accounts paper.

I Skyped with a friend as a way to distract myself, and he was very helpful. I had both emails open, the one I filled into the form, and the one the university gave me. I kept refreshing them and at 1.38 am, the email came in. I was excited and panicking at the same time.

I wanted to know my results, and I didn't. I opened the email, knowing I have to scroll down a bit to first see the my name, my student number, my GPA, my CGPA and then the grades. I took a deep breath. Scrolled slowly and my heart stopped.

My CGPA had increased by 0.02 which meant the GPA must have been high enough to do so. Sliding my eyes slightly to the right, I saw the figure. The highest for my degree. I buried my face in my pillow, full of relief. Did a little jig before went knocking on my parents' door. Dad opened it, and god, he merely went:

"GPA 3.68 and CGPA 3.60, right?"

He knew. Both of my parents already knew of my results since Tuesday, through a friend of his. And they both swore they had no clue. Five minutes later, Dad knocked on my door and handed me a bag.

Behold, the new love of my life.

*shows off my new phone*

Since Dad made a deal with me back in July, that if I get the Vice Chancellor Award, an award given to a student who managed to get on the Dean's List every semester of their study, he would give me a phone. A Samsung Galaxy 3 to be precise.

Or more known as the S III, which was "Designed for humans" so said its tagline back when it first came out. I love it so much. It it so shiny and snazzy.

Haha.

So,do send me chocolates through the mail, as a form of congratulatory wishes. I prefer Reese's, Twix, Snickers and so on.


And to the two people who have given me an award, thank you so much. I'll answer the questions when I can.

Umra: The Start.

I finished my Final Year Project presentation on the 23rd of January, but corrections had to be made and tasks delegated. I let the project go into my team members' hands on the morning of the 26th. I then, finally started on packing my bag for the two weeks trip, trying to get the number of clothing I'll need for the two weeks I'll be over there. It was a mess, with Mama overbudgeting the number of t-shirts I'll need (I'll only wear that to sleep, or while in the hotel room) and so on.

But by the time night came on Sunday, the bags were all packed and I was enjoying my online time. Our flight was at 3.10pm Monday, but we had to be at the airport by 12pm. So as usual, we were there an hour early. And I've always loved airports since I was a kid. It might have came from how I travelled a lot as a kid, and I saw airports as something that signifies travelling to other places.

Mama and her sister. As you can see, there must be some family resemblance between them that I fail to see. She sent us off with her husband and their big van, which was stuffed to the brim with our bags. 3 big ones and 4 hand luggage bags.

Lil bro with our bags.

Me, still being excited. Lil bro's comment after taking the picture:

"God, you look like a Chinese."

After an hour, Mama is showing signs of boredom. Behind her is Dad on the left, and my Uncle on the right.

While waiting to get our boarding passes and to check in the luggage, Lil Bro went all hungry and I dragged him to McDonald's. Word of advise, never go there. We're so used to the normal, cheaper Lunch/Dinner time prices that when we found out it wasn't available at KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), my wallet cried. I could have bought 4 Large McValue Big Mac meal with the amount of cash I paid for 2 mediums McValue meals.

Once we had our tummies filled, we found out that the luggage has been checked in and the boarding passes and passports were handed to me for safekeeping. The parents then went to have lunch and we were left guarding the hand luggage and I was suddenly filled with the need for a coffee drink.

Me, enjoying my Iced White Coffee Guam at Old Town with Lil Bro.

Our flight was right on time, the four of us in the center seats (nightmare) in Saudi Airlines. The coffee set in both of us so we spent the next 10 hours on the plane watching Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Green Lantern and played games.

And of course, we ate. The first meal aka lunch was fish, rice, vegetables. With a side of salad and a cake that had raspberry jam on top. It was yummy. Dinner was pasta with minced beef. This was super yummy. The cake had a chocolate spread on top. But the third meal, more like a snack was vile. It was a bun with turkey slices. The bun was very dry.

 We did a pit stop at Riyadh and was told that it was 15C and it was around 7pm. We arrived at Medina around 9pm-ish and went through such a long immigration process that by the time we stepped out of the airport, I shivered so much.

It was so so so so so cold. And it was drizzling. Light rain in a place where it usually rains 3 times a year. 

Once we were in the warmth of our bus, Lil Bro had the idea to take some pictures outside, with me tagging along. Its a small airport. About 20 minutes away from our hotel.

This is me, super windy and cold, telling my brother to just take a picture. The group had about 37 of us, and we were all very sleepy. The bus was slow, and I was falling asleep while our guide talked through his microphone. 

We stayed at Raddison Blu, a snazzy hotel about 3 minutes walking distance. We could see the Nabawi Mosque from the entrance. When we arrived, we were told that dinner was waiting for us. I was thinking:

"No way. I'm too sleepy to even think of food."

It was a buffet that held a mix of Turkish and Indonesian food. My tummy growled and I sat down with the parents, stuffing myself with food before going up to the 9th floor, where our bags were waiting at the door.

The view from the elevator. The bottom floor is the lobby and above it, is the dining area. If you squint, you'll see people lining up. That area is where all the cheeses, cold cuts, bread and cold salads are. My fave part of the buffet.

Our room was the suite, two adjoining rooms. This is the room I shared with Lil Bro, my bed is the one without a bag. The view outside was the building beside it. What has been the pattern since my last two trips over here, is that the beds and pillows are super super super comfy. I fell asleep after a refreshing shower right at midnight.

Tuesday Thoughts.

I'm Hommmeee.

Guess who's back?

Hanis is back.

Tell a friend.

Thank you so much for the comments, 19 of them. Wooot woot. We took about 460 pictures during our trip and I'm still too tired to talk much about them but here is a picture. Not too good, but I like how it has Kaabah at the back, and me just standing there. Picture taken by Dad.

Tuesday Thoughts.

How can one not tear up a bit reading this?

Be a Princess in White.

This is a scheduled post, so I'm not posting this from a holy city. Do leave tons of comments so I'll be a happy little cookie when I get back.

When I first started Tuesday Thoughts, I got the habit of saving pictures that I like whenever I browse Tumblr, Imgfave and Weheartit. Most are the kind of things you see on my Tuesday Thoughts' posts and some are just pretty pictures. While browsing through my collection, I saw there were some that clearly belong in one group.

Wedding dresses.

Yes, I, Hanis the Gorgeous, had saved  up pictures of wedding dresses, mostly traditional styles, without realising it. 

As we all know, I'm not the girl who's planning her wedding. I'll be more excited for the honeymoon because it will be in Rome, no negotiations. So when I told Mokesart my collection of wedding dresses, he had no comment. But another friend told me that perhaps, deep inside me I might have the urge to either be a bride, designer, wedding planner or a dressmaker.

They're not even Malay style dresses, but those white/cream/off white dresses that you see in those Hollywood movies. God, please don't tell me I've been brainwashed by those movies. 

I once wanted to design wedding dresses, because for me, its the dress that makes you feel and look like a princess. I don't even care about the wedding part that much but perhaps the fact that is is a dress meant to be worn on that special day is the reason why it is so pretty.

You might think:

Heck Hanis, just admit it, you wanna get married one day.

Its more like, I want to wear one of those dresses just for fun. Have my picture taken, feel pretty. No wonder I like watching one of those reality shows where they have to buy a wedding dress on a budget.

Here, are some of my favourites. As you can see, there's a common theme to most of them. Let's see if you can guess what it is. Apart from the colour.

All those white/cream/off white fabric makes me melt. Few days ago, I found out that there's a Disney Princesses wedding dress collection. Disney. Dresses. I went a bit squeee and took a look. The pictures weren't that close up to give me any idea of the details but they seem pretty-ish. But the price .. god. It could be just me, or is it actually moderately priced at 2000 USD?