Random Rambles of Lotfi

I tried running today. Just 3 km. After more than 2 weeks of inactivity after the fall while hiking at Tabur West . As expected, my legs felt heavy and the hills near home that I used to just run up to felt hard, I had to stop 3/4 of the way before continuing again. Hubs hasn't been running for about a month, what with events organising,  the last few weeks. The coccyx felt ok, no major pain. Tunggu esok and look out for any pain.   Am taking it easy but we decided we have to try and run daily till our trip to Turkey to get at least 15 to 20 km mileage done. Yeay!! Turkey! That's finally happening! Some of us from the runningkakis will be running the 15km at the Istanbul Marathon . A run-cation like our Hong Kong Marathon trip in February and Kuching Marathon in August. I figured why not combine a vacation with running? And Turkey in November will be awesomely...cold? We will be running at a possible start temperature of 12-13 degrees..brrrr... ...

The coccyx is still sore. No Viper Challenge for me tomorrow...boohooo!! :(( I was looking forward to swing from rope to rope, climb endless walls and falling into muds!! And 20km of running.  And being with my runningkaki brothers. Good luck , guys!! With no training, except for a few measly kms of walking in the last 2 weeks since the hike up Tabur West, let's hope I can finish the Istanbul 15km in one piece. That, I'm looking forward to! ;)) The coccyx pain is also bothering the upper right back. I should pay the acupuncturist a visit soon. Fear of needles on my butt! Lol! Not a good sight! I'm holding up for a bit, for the next few day.  It's one or the other, since I have no choice it has to be one that my behind can bear Since I am not going to the race tomorrow I have decided to register myself for a workshop, instead. it's a social media workshop for business. The quest for knowledge is never-ending. I love meeting like-minded, positive ...

I haven't had Monday blues in a while. The perks of working from home. Well, perhaps the only blues I get on a Monday, these days is ironing Zaim's school uniforms. When the two kiddos and big bro leaves for school and Uni, the house will be quiet and peaceful. Time for that cuppa OR... perhaps get that extra shut-eye, most of time the latter wins.  Today, we had brunch outside, and I settled some paperwork i.e invoicing. And then a client whatsapped to get advice on copy for their outdoor ads, which thrilled me. I love looking at creative ideas and  how they will materialize on all the medium, outdoor, TV and prints. Btw, invoicing is something I have to remind myself to do regularly. One month, I overlooked invoicing and realized that I wasn't about to get paid that month and panicked. The downside of working for yourself...have to keep up with all the paperwork on your own. So I downloaded an apps called invoice2go  . Have yet to exp...

1st day of the new Islamic calendar year. 1st day of the month of Muharam. Alhamdulillah, sempat baca doa awal dan akhir tahun semalam. So, I thought I won't wait till January to make some new resolutions. New year came early for us, so why not? Let's see... what resolutions shall I make. 1. Be kinder, have kind thoughts of people. More often than not we have , I have pre-conceived notions of people. Dia ni nampak sombong, tak mau tegur..dia tu poyo, yang tu kerek, that one too quiet, this one too noisy..hahahah. I am a kind person, but I aspire to be kinder this year. I have always practiced good thoughts of people, even if some of the things people do are less than kind, or almost spiteful. I just hope to be given the strength to be even kinder to them. 2. Give more often. Today I started by donating. No details necessary here. I just want to give more often, whatever I can afford, maybe monetary, some days materials, other days..my time and also, my energy.  3....

Went for a quick walk this morning with #therunningkaki , despite the coccyx episode. Every step is painful but still bearable. I hope moving around will improve the blood circulation and speed up healing no? I'm taking it easy...Hope this will heal before 1st November's Viper Challenge! Hub's at work so just me and the kids at home. Trying to finish off some articles for a client. Taking this quick break. So, we did a quick compost box just now.My main reason for composting is to reduce waste. Ever since I quit full time job, each time I clear the fridge or wash the dishes, a lot of food waste gets thrown away just like that. So I figured the waste has got to be put to good use instead. A meeting with PPSPPA (Perbadanan Pengurusan Sisa Pepejal & Permbersihan Awam) under the Ministry of Local Government, a while back while I was still working, opened my eyes to the possibility of composting. They used a very simple technique for doing it using a Japanese...

We hiked up Tabur West last Sunday. The earlier planned re-hike of Mount Irau had to be cancelled as we found out there would be a big group of hikers going up the mountain. We settled for Tabur West instead. Tabur West is located in Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur. A hill quite notorious with reported falls and deaths recently. We heard about the tragedies, but I figured if we are careful tragedies can be avoided. Out of habit, with runs and hikes, I never read anything prior to the day.  Spiny Quartz Ridge Hills, I found out AFTER the hike. It was challenging, alright..Hubs had to bail out because of work. So I went with the rest of the gang. A little apprehensive but being with experienced hikers who have scaled the hills reassured me. Tabur West is so different from it East neighbour! To compare the two, ascending Tabur West felt easier. The climb brought us up to more than 10 hill tops (at least it felt that way), connected by ridges. Tabur East was steeper and we...

As a typical self-proclaimed foodie I always post pictures of things I cooked onto Instagram which most of the time gets linked to my facebook and twitter timeline. A lazy cook, I usually cheats my way around recipes I like, adjusting and adding based on what's available at home.  Except for my youngest son, everyone in the house are not fussy eaters. I cook, they eat. Youngest son must have rice, everyday, all meals preferably. Sometimes, I can get away with feeding him bread and eggs. Most of the time, not. Lunch yesterday afternoon, was leftover day, which means we eat leftover from the fridge. I try not to waste food and will upcycle leftover pastas into fritata, some days we'll have fried rice, or just sandwiches from leftover chicken. I try not to waste food but of course some stuff just get thrown away. I'm trying to revive a compost box so that I can make better use of my food waste. That's for another post. Yesterday's dinner was CHICKEN PI...

Exactly 5 months since my last post. Exactly 5 months since my last day in full time employment. How has it been?  I am still busy...I keep myself busy. There are lazy days. There are productive ones. But, I'm more relaxed these days, more than I like though.. Alhamdulillah, last Ramadan was wonderful not having to go to work 9-6. And Raya was wonderful, not having to think about going 'back to work after Raya holidays'. I get to see Mak in JB more than before :))    I get more time with Aisyah before she leaves for the US. Daily, I see more of the kids. I plan my outings and meetings around non-peak hours and avoid the traffic, so much so that driving at peak hours irks me now. I take on projects I like and I say no to those I couldn't spare time on. I get to cook more often, I read more books, I get to spend more time on spiritual practices. I ran a full marathon last month cause it's just nicer not having to go to work the days after. I water th...

This would be the ideal me...carefree, no worries, a walk in the park, all the greens around..best kan? kan?kan? This was taken by Aisyah after last Sunday's Foodgasm Fest in TTDI Rimba Park. This picnic setting food fest of sort, with clothes, shoes and other nick knacks thrown in as well, for sale that is. We came towards the end of the fest, as we had other prior engagements. The rain just stopped and it was cool and nice to be able to walk the park with the family. The whole carnival like atmosphere, combined with the outdoor setting was a refreshing change to walking around in a mall, and the music, yes the indie music was great as well. Families, hipster, kids flocked the otherwise quiet park for the food tasting, people watching taking welfies and selfies. If only we can have the same number of people running and walking in the park as a form recreation. Now, that's something!!  Maybe we can organise a run, walk and eat carnival..hehe ...

Yesterday, I found myself back in my alma mater, the main campus ground of UiTM, Shah Alam. The last time I was there was for my own graduation. The ceremony was held at DATC, short for Dewan Agong Tuanku Canselor, a new auditorium for all formal university functions. The truth is, I didn't know where the shuttle bus took us from where we parked our car at Section 7, Shah Alam. Bimbo moment, made worst with the heat of the day and the fact that we didn't know our way around the area plus we were late...(which is not unusual based on our track records). The grand DATC So Aisyah completed her Diploma in Artistic Writing last year. We're all glad that part of her life is over and done with.  I attended the ceremony with the hubs and her grandfather. Got there in the nick of time. All her course mates were already in the hall, and she was 'inserted' into the line. And less than 15 minutes later, I heard her name being called up. My first born, recipient of...

After Mount Irau, we decided to explore FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia). I have been there twice for a run and some work activities but have never tried the Canopy Walk or hiking the trails. Didn't do much research on the place. This is one of those 'redah je' trip. We reached FRIM before 7.45am. Just a 20 minutes drive from home in the weekend traffic. To park your car in the park, you need to pay RM7, otherwise you can park outside and walk your way in. Waited for the rest and after much deliberation because we know very little about the place decided to head to the waterfall route. The  9 of us walked at leisure, took lots of pics and marvel at the greenery around us. Since we were there early we decided to just walk around the area. FRIM was already bustling with activities. Walkers, runners, cyclers, cyclists, picnickers with families and friends in tow. I saw that they had bicycles for rent too. Cool! We walked into the trails to the waterfall,...

I don't remember ever celebrating Mother's Day with my own Mak. I don't even remember people talking about it when I was a kid. Maybe old age is getting to me, but yeah, I don't remember. It's only when I became a mum of 4 that all these talks about Mother's Day came about. And we see the commercialisation of the whole thing. The flowers, the cards, the gifts, the whole jing-bang. Nothing wrong with it all. If all the kids and dads in the world need a day to remember to celebrate us mummies, so be it. Bask in the attention, eat all the delicious food, indulge in the desserts, cherish the gifts, flowers and make them feel good celebrating us. My own Mak in JB is oblivious to Mother's Day. Even more so now, 2 years after her stroke. I called just to speak to her and asked her how she's doing, which is rare coz she doesn't answer the phone herself. I get updates from my sisters. I would rather sit with her to ask her how she is. But she sounded ev...

The plan to hike up Mount Irau in Cameron Highlands was mooted by a brother, Anep last March. I've never heard of Irau but we told Anep to make plans. Police permits are needed to climb the highest peak in Cameron Highland. Due to clashing schedules, our climb was delayed from March ti April and finally this month. We didn't give it much thought until our assigned guide, a chap called H created a group whatsapp a few days before the climb. Not only it dawned on me that we're physically unprepared, we are also not ready with the right gears for hiking. I started scouring blogs and websites of hikers to find out what we should prepare. Figured that even if we're not physically prepared at least we're dressed for it! This was the list given by H, as per his whatsapp message, 1- hiking shoe (rubber better) extra socks, waterproof hand glove, poncho and slipper 2- windbreaker or fleece (it's cold outthere) like freezing. Haha 3- trekking pole, wet n dry tissue, a k...