Let the summer journey begin...

بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِارَّحْمَنِ ارَّحِيم

Hee...lama tak update :) To get my fingers engine running, let's warm up with the five thing activity.

RIGHT after finals. This is at NIU, by my department building. Dating dengan mamat by the lake.

Quite impressed by the iPhone camera.

Syukur alhamdulillah for...

1. the smooth first day of work. My first task was to design a brochure for the FCNS department at NIU. I was introduced to some big, gangsta printing machines of many kinds. almost like a woodshop also with tools and whatnot. A few clients dropped in for new projects. I'm sitting in my own cubicle for now with four paired screens. My employers are very nice and welcoming. Through this work/internship I want to reinforce my design process and skills. Through good practice I should be more efficient. Also, meeting new people and trying new things are always exciting. Third day on the job, I already had to work overtime. From doing production work to design, management to installation. Alhamdulillah, best sgt.

2. trip to Cabondale. Ohio's tarybiyyah program got cancelled. I nagged my bro that I still wanted to travel and do fun stuff. Three things that make up my favorite getaway - good company, nature and exciting activities. Gee...I was being such a princess so much so that he said "Let's go to Arizona terus lah". But of course, it was too expensive. So off to Carbondale we went. That's where second home lies.The people had always been so nice and interesting when they used to come to our house. The nature and hiking parts were a bonus. Hiking was so much fun. Jumping and climbing from one rock to another, chilling right at the edge of the cliff to get the best scenic view...it was a maashallah scenery, you know. Had my parens been around, I would most likely get told off.

heh. tatapan special utk Kak Nazirahku tersayang. hihihi. we miss you!

happy family :) 

3. Summer! Did I tell you it was snowing last week? Yah...it was. That was one of the reasons why I really wanted to run down south. Today the weather couldn't have been more perfect. As unpredictably cold place DeKalb can be, at least we don't face scorching heatwave that burns down forests and other natural disasters. Tornados and thunderstorms come visit once in a while but alhamdulillah3 still livin and kickin. NIU campus right now is quite like a ghost town which I appreciate! I could just paint the town red.

...one of them is driving. needless to say, fun time was had. Driving from DeKalb to Carbondale is about 6 hours. Yet, they're still in the same state! Kalau Jitra ke Seramban dah banyak langkau banyak negeri. Alhamdulillah selamat perjalanan :) 

4. ...filling up my time with a checklist of activities to do, things to accomplish, people to meet, places to go.

5. Islam dan Iman walaupun Iman masih macam velcro. Detachable. Masa senang, mudah untuk kita lupa dan lalai. A once in a while reminder always subdues the anxious heart. Alhamdulillah for good people.

Masjid Al-Houda, near Northbrook. I think the mosque uses Fatimid kufic calligraphy on the walls. This is the first time that I've been to a masjid that doesn't do partitions between men and women. But of course, they sit separately. 

Apakah (yang ditunggu-tunggu oleh mereka yang tidak beriman itu?) mereka tidak menunggu melainkan kedatangan malaikat (yang mencabut nyawa mereka), atau kedatangan (azab) Tuhanmu, atau kedatangan sebahagian dari tanda-tanda Tuhanmu (yang menjadi alamat hari kiamat). Pada hari datangnya sebahagian dari tanda-tanda Tuhanmu itu, tidak berfaedah lagi iman seseorang yang tidak beriman sebelum itu, atau yang tidak berusaha mengerjakan kebaikan mengenai imannya. Katakanlah: "Tunggulah kamu (akan apa yang kamu berhak mendapatnya), dan kami pun sebenarnya menunggu (akan apa yang telah dijanjikan oleh Tuhan kepada kami)". Quran, Al-An'am 6:158 

Ya Allah, tanamkanlah dan sempurnakanlah dalam diri kami keikhlasan, kesyukuran, akhlak yang baik, tawadduk dan istiqamah. Amin.

This house is beautiful. What's special about America is that every house has its own unique design. 

For every holiday, mamat and minah never fail to spend time with Atok Oli. Menagih kasih  :)

I thought this was genius! Check out the right part of the white board. "Solat Points". While the adults were chit chatting and kids playing around at Adam's Birthday, Adam took a timeout and prayed all by himself. Then he came out and asked if he could add his points. Each prayer worths 10 points, convertible to 10 cents. Eventually the amount of points/money collected will be donated to a charity :) awesome. If this is not a healthy racing towards goodness, I don't know what is:)