Convenient concrete driveway

25th December 2009

Quite often during the afternoons lately, my children love to cycle around our home. It really shows that all that extra expenditure in having our driveway cemented is worth every single cent. It's also very convenient for our cars as well as guests' to be manouvered around, especially so since Brunei receives a high rainfall rate throughout the year and driving around in muddy soil is definitely not something anyone is looking forward to.

One advice for those planning on building a home, have the driveway included in the price quotation from your chosen contractor and get discounts if possible.

Solar garden lights

21st December 2009

As promised, here is a picture of our solar garden lights when it lights up at night. The brightness really depends on how much sunlight there was during each day, but we are quite satisfied with the result. After all, no hassle of connecting electrical wiring is needed for these pretty lights to function.

Hijrah breakfast

18th December 2009

Firstly, Happy Muslim New Year (1431 Hijrah) to all Muslims all around the world. May all our good deeds in the past year be rewarded by Allah and lets all try and make full use of this new year for our benefits both in this world and the Hereafter.

To mark the arrival of this blessed day, we have invited jemaah Masjid Pulaie for an early breakfast straightly after the dawn sermon (Kuliyyah Subuh). Although some of them were unable to come since they were fasting, around 20 guests showed up to fulfill our invitation.

My wife and I together with the help of my sister woke up early this morning to prepare our breakfast buffet menu; crunchy chicken in pita breads, wet noodles, kelupis with beef curry and my wife's speciality, teh tarik. It was actually the first time we invite guests over very early in the morning and it was definitely a good and memorable experience.



We also invited our neighbours the same day.

Planter box serving its purpose

8th December 2009

It's been more than 5 months now after we started moving in. All this while, my wife and I have always been glancing at our empty and abandoned planter boxes, two at the front and one at the back. Of course it was clever of our architect to have it readily constructed, but seeing it barren is definitely not something anyone would wish for.

Finally, with the help of my good friend, Sateria, from Sat & Iza Landscaping we are now proud owners of functional planter boxes. We are satisfied with what we have for now, and future plans include adding small plants to cover the soil and perhaps use some pebbles too.

In addition to the plants, we have also installed some solar-powered garden lights that we bought from Australia last year. Another advantage of having filled planter boxes. I'll post more pictures of the lights soon since the instructions needs us to charge the batteries for at least 4 nights before it can function its best.

At the same time, I also instructed the workers to move the palm trees that I have planted a year ago on the adjoining land. Hehehe... apparently after more than a year, the trees seem to not have grown that much. I guess I have been unfair leaving the trees to survive on their own without much care and attention. Now that the trees are closer to the house, we'll definitely monitor their growth more often and hopefully the trees will strive and grow better.

In the afternoons, my wife and the kids also love to do some gardening works. My in-laws were very kind to give us some potted plants (for free!) and we are slowly developing a "greener" home.

Happy Birthday Mummy SyafiSafiya

29th November 2009

Happy 28th birthday to my lovely wife. Thank you for the happiness that you bring into our lives and we are so lucky to have someone special like you.

Lots of love from
Your hubby, Syafi & Safiya

Eid Mubarak

28th November 2009

Happy Aidil Adha to all our Muslim blog readers.

Sincerely from us at
House of SyafiSafiya
2009

A 3-in-1 birthday celebration

27th November 2009

Tonight we had a small dinner to mark the celebration of 3 birthdays this month; mine, my wife and my sister. Before dinner, we performed a mass prayer and takbir recitation in conjunction with Aidil Adha. Thanks to all my family members who came.

A clear view at last

26th November 2009

We recently had some workers clear up the surroundings of our home. It's been a while since the last lawn-mowing work and the grass has definitely grown tall especially on the land on the left side of our house.

Thankfully, all of it is now gone and we now have a clean view. It was definitely a lot of hard work since the workers took two days to finish their job.

The car is back

15th November 2009

Early last month (October 1st to be exact), I had a very unfortunate day. When I had just started my daily journey to work early in the morning, I lost control of the car and hit a fire hydrant that was erected on the side of the road. Frankly, I didn't know what had happened since it's the same route that I take everyday and ironically, the mishap happened about 1 1/2 kilometres away from my house.

Luckily, no one was injured and the only thing that the incident left behind is a bad memory. As for the car, the front bumper was crushed and had to be replaced. Both air bags were deployed too. Thankfully, the car insurance comes to the rescue and helps a lot with the repair expenses.

After more than a month in the workshop, the car is finally ready. There is a slight change in the bumper with new blue-coloured fog-lights and a black front grill instead of a white one that used to be installed. The car also had a new whole body paint job and the result is really nice.

Happy Birthday Daddy SyafiSafiya

1st November 2009

A big birthday shout out to our one-of-a-kind, loving, cheerful and caring DADDY. We love you very much! Happy Birthday daddy! Hugs and kisses from Syafi, Safiya and mummy...

Posted by Syafi & Safiya

# More pics at the other blog #

Our informal living room with a new look

26th October 2009

It's now officially four months since we moved in. Apparently the process of settling in still goes on with lots of furnishings still yet to be bought. After Safiya's birthday party, we cleared the informal living room from all the banquet tables.

Having the opportunity, my wife and I decided to rearrange the furniture and gave the area a different look. With this new arrangement, we think that the room has more function and is definitely more practical. If you compare these pictures from how the room used to look like (please refer previous posts), you can see the difference.

Now the whole family as well as our guests will enjoy the comfortable sofas while watching television. I think we'll keep this arrangement for now.

Another successful event

25th October 2009

Last night, we had another successful event; my daughter Safiya's birthday celebration. Lots more pictures in the other [blog].

A big thanks to everyone who came, gave their support and made Safiya's dream come true.

Taking time beautifying our home

23rd October 2009

I've been meaning to post some pictures for quite some time but couldn't find the time.. at least not until now. Here are pictures taken during the last fasting month when we decided to plant some royal palm trees in the front yard as well as the side of the house (with the help of some gardeners, of course!), and a couple of pictures of the LED lights decorating our home in preparation for Raya.

Our princess's birthday

15th October 2009

A very special birthday wish goes out to my daughter, Safiya, as she turns 3 today. Lots of love from daddy, mummy and Syafi.

More pictures on the other [blog].

Gembo paying a visit

11th October 2009

Last night we had the pleasure of welcoming a colleague, relative as well as a fellow blogger, Gembo, to our home. Thankfully the celebrated month of Syawal or Hari Raya goes on for a month. As such it was still not too late for guests to come, and at the same time do a house-touring. Gembo has been very helpful in giving me tips and advice during our one and a half year struggle of building our dream home, and you can read about his experience building his own too on his [blog].

When two girls with the same name meet.. Iman & Iman

Welcoming more guests during Hari Raya

4th October 2009

From noon until late last night, we held another open house for our friends and families, mainly colleagues of ours. We also invited my son's school friends and their pictures can be seen on the other [blog]. The chef for yesterday is my mother-in-law and the theme was a Malay traditional menu. It consisted of white rice, "nasi kabuli" (rice with beef), beef bone stew, daging salai rebus kunyit, ayam masak merah (sweet sour chicken), sambal hati, and two local vegetables; batang pisang and sayur buah tarap. Too bad we were so busy that we forgot to take pictures of the scrumptious menu!

In addition to that, my wife also made baked pasta, one with minced beef and another with ratatouille especially for my vegetarian colleague. We also had sweet corn, egg mayo sandwiches and a variety of local seasonal fruits.

A special thanks to our chef of the day and our heartiest appreciation to all the guests who came. We wish all Selamat Hari Raya.

My wife's officemates

With her friends from university days...

My colleagues from Shell

A good friend of my father-in-law

Cousins...

Our blogger friend, Ciliqueen

Another colleagues of mine (standing up). She brought along her sisters and coincidentally, her brother-in-law is Dr. Syafiq, the doctor who was in charge of my late mother's treatments during her battle with cancer. What a small world!