Our Love Story

Perth - Day 1-3

2011-04-25T19:45:00.011+08:00

We did our packing 2 days prior to departure and were quite proud of ourselves that we were not doing that frantically in the morning of departure. So confidently we drove to the airport and walked to the check-in counter to check-in. And according to Murphy's Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. I had a rude shock when the lady asked me, "Did you apply for visa to Australia?" And I returned her with a puzzled look and before I knew it, we were whisked to another counter to pay for the instant application of visa that cost us a freaking $140 in total! Damn it......

Despite the feeling of being ripped off, we braced on and boarded our flight happily. After less than 5 hours, we were greeted with a 34 degrees weather at Perth. Notwithstanding the sweltering heat, we got out to the car park and got our Toyota Corolla.

After a short ride of about 20 minutes, we reached our B&B that is pretty near to town area, easily accessible to North Bridge and CBD area. This is where we called home for the next 3 nights.

Durack House, a highly rated B&B at Tripadvisor. Lovely country style home.

The next morning, we spent our day at Subiaco and Fremantle. Fremantle is known for its cafes and fish & chips and that is of course something that we are careful not to miss! Fremantle is a bustling little town with lots of tourists and locals chilling out on a Sunday afternoon.

The following day, we headed to the Kings Park for a scenic walk around the Botanic Gardens. Before it turned too hot to bear, we decided to call it a morning and head out to Swan Valley.

As we are not wine fanatics, we didn't go to the vineyards but we went to the honey stores and restaurants and most interestingly, the Cuddly Animal Farm, where we had a upclose and personal experience with the sheeps.

Unfortunate change of travel plans

2011-04-25T19:29:00.005+08:00

Really been a long while since I last updated and I missed blogging. Been so caught up with work that I have become lazy, to at least keep up with the habit of blogging about our relationship. But shall try to blog more often to minute down the happy moments (or sad ones? which I hope not!)

We had planned for our long overdue Japan trip in 2011 and to be in time for Sakura. So there I went spending time to do my research diligently on the accommodation and places to visit. But alas, we had to cancel our trip entirely a few weeks before our trip due to the unfortunate event in Japan. So plans for Japan had to be shelved for the time being and aching for a holiday, we decided to go Perth instead!

Not having been to Perth, we decided that with the one week of leave, we can make do with Australia. So the cycle of getting air tickets and finding accommodation start all over again and plans for Perth were settled within a week! Isn't this efficient?

So Perth here we come!

Happy Birthday Lar Lar!

2010-09-29T12:36:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was Lar Lar's birthday and we celebrated it just like an old couple :) He is not one who will fuss over such celebrations (or so I thought) so we had a simple dinner at Plaza Singapura. Till the end of dinner, he asked me 'so where's my surprise?' and I was dumbfounded. It caught me by surprise instead of me giving him the 'surprise'.

So luckily he really wasn't hoping for a surprise from me although I thought that it would be a nice gesture. Point taken and noted :P Then it dawned upon me that despite being together for years, we should still make an effort to shower each other with pleasant surprises and small little thoughtful gifts. To give that little more sparkle and life into our marriage. It is really quite easy to slip into this '老夫老妻' mode and take things for granted many a times.

Now it's high time to crack my head on how to celebrate our 1st year Anniversary come this Halloween. Gosh, time really flies! It has been almost a year but it feels like we are newly married. Better make it a memorable one this time!

Office celebrations

2010-08-03T23:39:00.004+08:00

After the long weekend of celebrations, I was greeted with another wave of celebrations in office with all the gals! I am entering into my sixth month into my new job and all my wonderful colleagues have helped me sail through and made the smooth transition into the working environment. I am thankful that they have made my working life more interesting and 'less miserable'. Without them, I would not be able to pull through my work from day to day!

Thank you all!!!

Yummy hot chocolate cake!

Our lunch at the newly opened Pizza Hut at T1

Our team of ladies, lined up in front of my cubicle.

Thank you for the lovely digital photo frame!

Off to Singapore Flyer... finally!

2010-08-03T22:42:00.006+08:00

I have been talking about the Singapore Flyer for the longest time and since I have the discount voucher, we (or rather I) decided that we shall spend my birthday at the Singapore Flyer! As it was a on a weekday, the place was not crowded and we only had to share the capsule with another Korean couple. Although we didn't have the privacy of a capsule for our own, it was still good as we had someone to take a photo for us!

Nearing the top of the world!

Lovely couple shot!

After the 30 minutes ride, we went on to do shopping for my present. After looking around, I settled for a watch, which was within lar lar's 'limited' budget. Although it was a short afternoon out, we felt washed out when evening drew near and we made our way home before the evening peak hour kicked in.

Nothing felt better than spending a great Monday without work and with lar lar by my side!

Sunday brunch and dinner

2010-08-03T22:14:00.003+08:00

We started our day early at Millenia Walk for Sunday brunch. Caleb highly recommended this German restaurant, a big part that was due to the free flow of beer. Yes, we were potentially looking at 4 men getting drunk early on Sunday afternoon! But of course that didn't happen as they had proven to be great drinkers and the beer probably felt like plain water to them.

What added on to the great celebration was mama Tracy and papa Sean was back in Singapore! Besides welcoming them back, we were greeted with another piece of good news, that was mama Tracy was really going to be mummy come March!!! We were all so elated with the news and we couldn't stop interviewing the soon-to-be parents. Now, our family is going to get bigger and bigger now!

Durian cake from Emicakes, which we concluded were nicer than the desserts served there.

Wonder gals of five!

Our big 'family'

After our brunch, we proceeded back home for more board games to spend the remaining of the Sunday afternoon before the rest started to turn blue with the impending Monday. For once, I didn't turn blue that fast as I took leave the following day. After our games, we proceeded to my jie jie's place for another round of dinner, durians and cake cutting!

Love you all for the well wishes and showering me with so much love, care and certainly not forgetting the presents!!!

Welcome to Club 31

2010-08-03T21:51:00.006+08:00

I have been lazy, not been updating my posts lately. Besides getting bogged down by work, there isn't much happenings lately either to share. Till recently that my big day came and my weekends start to look and feel more exciting. Yes, I have officially stepped into Club 31 and I can only say that life's getting better . I am surrounded with a loving husband, great family, wonderful friends and nice colleagues, so what else really matters more?

So I spent a fantastic weekend with all these people and it certainly lifted up my spirits, especially since my hectic week of work prior to all the celebrations. I started my Saturday early at Universal Studios Singapore for my company's family day and we were blessed with good weather. To think that the weather forecast the day before was showers with thunder! Although I had to work, it didn't really feel like work as I had a great time with the committee members. It wasn't that tough being part of the committee afterall.

In the afternoon, I went back to buy all the stuff for the potluck session in the evening. And we were so engrossed with all the food that we forgot about the photo taking till we were almost done with it!

We had food like pizza, curry chicken, satay, chicken wings, mango pudding.... and the list goes on and on and on..........

I had my wish granted, which was the cake from Awfully Chocolate!

Our group picture, taken on self timer, which ended up with a 'wu lian pai' :P

We missed the company of Eileen and family as Lecia was down with HFMD. Poor gal and her fast recovery was certainly in one of my birthday wishes! Hope to see her up and about soon!

MIA - Missing In Action

2010-07-07T21:38:00.002+08:00

No new posts for the month of June. Been missing in action and not much exciting stuff in my life, except for work and work and work. So tired that sometimes over the weekend, I just want to stay at home, rest on my bed and watch senseless shows on tv. Just to let my mind rest and think of nothing. And this cycle continues till the next weekend comes.

I wonder how long can this go on. Only one word, PERSEVERE. Period.

Fun filled road trip

2010-05-26T15:28:00.005+08:00

I didn't realise that my last post was on 1 May till I finally found time to blog. Since our last outing to Sentosa, we finally managed to find time to go to Pulai Springs Resort! We have been talking about it for the longest time and glad that we put our plans in actions. We met early in the morning at 6.30am and whisked through the Woodlands checkpoint as there was hardly any traffic.

We reached our breakfast place shortly and had our pratas and mee. It was still early so we went to do grocery shopping.

Posing after filling our stomachs in the morning.

We were so early that some of the shops were not even opened yet!

Stealing a kiss from Lecia when she least expected it!

After the shopping at Jusco, we had KFC for lunch. Somehow it tasted much better than the chicken in Singapore. It was not long before our check-in time approached and we made our way to the resort.

The two Rav 4 that brought us safely to the resort :)

Entrance of the resort

One of the three rooms in the apartment

Just after we got ourselves ready for a swim, it started pouring! It felt like de jevu as it was exactly what happened during our Sentosa trip. While waiting for the rain to stop, we roamed around the resort and had our favourite game of table tennis. And without surprise, Mike emerged the winner after a tough fight with Rich.

After the game, we proceeded to have our dinner before our real drinking game back in our apartment. It didn't take us long to finish all the beer and wine that we bought and we had to resort to mixing all the remaining drinks to serve as the forfeit. Glad that Lar Lar was always around to take all the forfeits for me. Luvb lurb Lar Lar!

The next day after we did our late check-out, we made our way back as Tessa had to be back early to celebrate Mother's Day with her m-i-l. It was so far our first road trip to Malaysia with all the gals and hope that there would be many more to come soon!

Busy, busy and still busy

2010-05-01T21:17:00.005+08:00

Since the last post, I didn't manage to find time to update my posts till today. It has been a long week for me, with packed activites over the last weekend as well as late nights during weekdays. By the time I reach home every night, I will be wiped out and all I can think of is heading straight to bed.

But I have to say that it has been a hectic yet fruitful week for me. Last Saturday, sweetie pie booked the Sentosa hut for a BBQ session. So we headed straight there after lunch. By the time we settled down and got ready to head out to the beach, it started to pour! Arghhh... so we cramped inside the tiny hut and spent some time getting 'entertained' by baby Lecia. She is now at an age where she is getting herself busy by venturing around and being curious about every single thing. We just cannot get enough of her funny quirks and tricks that she is very capable of doing now.

When the rain stopped, we dashed out to the beach and managed to catch some sun before it started drizzling again.

Baby Lecia's first trip to the beach.

It didn't take long for the rain to come back and haunt us. Nonetheless, the guys started the fire and we had a 'romantic' bonfire at the BBQ pit. This is so far my second BBQ session in the rain with many umbrellas. The only consolation was that there was an event at the beach and there was constant loud music accompanying us throughout the night.

Isn't this a sight? :P

It took us a while to realise that the event was the World Gourmet Summit and we decided to take a stroll down to the beach to check it out. We 'gatecrashed' into the event site and helped ourselves to the free flow beer and vodka. It was a pity that the food was gone by the time we 'smuggled' in. They had also invited the live band from Timbre and it was indeed a great performance. What can be a better way to end the night with free drinks, great performance and cool breeze at the beach?

Chilling out at the beach.

The next day, we went for high tea at Merchant Court as a farewell for Tracy. Just when we got Cheryl back from New Zealand for good, it is now her turn to leave. It is really so hard for the five of us to be together! But we still wish her all the best and we will miss her terribly, especially now that we don't have enough gals to play mahjong!

Power of five!

Another marathon

2010-04-21T21:16:00.004+08:00

We finished watching the Taiwanese drama serial recently and there was a momentary sense of loss. Nothing to look forward to at the end of a working day and over the weekend. But we moved on and decided to continue with yet another Taiwanese serial. We caught the first episode on tv and decided that we shall watch at our own pace over the internet :) Another show for us to watch together while cuddling each other in bed!

My thoughts

2010-04-14T22:37:00.002+08:00

I went through another night without cuddling Lar Lar to sleep and another morning waking up without Lar Lar to kiss good morning. A feeling of emptiness inevitably creeps in whenever I am inside our room all by myself. Hopefully he can come home by tomorrow night and I will plant kisses after kisses after kisses on him, just like a woody wood pecker :P

Come home soon Lar Lar, I MISS YOU! 米修, 米修!!!

A big bed

2010-04-13T22:11:00.002+08:00

It didn't quite dawn upon me how big our bed was till I slept through the whole of last night all by myself. It was the first night since we tied the knot that I was sleeping without Lar Lar by my side. He didn't run away from home, neither did we quarrel. He just had to do his part for the nation and serve the country as well as the people ie. fulfilling his reservist requirements.

Last night, although I was still feeling drowsy from my medication, I sent him back to camp. He kissed me lightly on my lips before stepping out of the car, I guess with much fear that I would pass the flu virus to him. With lingering looks, I watched him slowly dragging his feet to the guard house. I waved him goodbye before I sped off to catch my much needed beauty sleep.

Back home, I stared blankly at our big bed and jumped straight into it. I was just wondering what would Lar Lar be doing at this moment when my thoughts of him slowly fade away and I succumbed to the effects of medication. That quiet moment didn't last long as my phone rang and it was Lar Lar calling to say goodnight to me. It reminded me of our dating days when every night he would call to say goodnight to me. After the phone call, it took me only seconds to fall back into deep sleep again.

Tonight, once again, I am blogging away on my side of the bed, leaving an empty space by my side, imagining him by my side playing his PSP or iphone. I am starting to miss his presence and his noise and how he likes to irritate me and almost everything about him. Hope these few days will pass quickly and I can get to see him again. And I promise this time round, I will let him irritate me without me showing any signs of frustration :)

Our weekend of shopping

2010-04-11T21:48:00.004+08:00

Without much surprise, I woke up with running nose on Saturday morning. That was despite sleeping early the night before. Nonetheless, I went for my facial as it was the last session and I had to finish it within the month. The facial therapist had to endure my sneezing while she was busy with my face.

After my facial, I headed back home straight, giving up the shopping opportunity in Orchard! I had to resist the temptation as I walked past boutiques like Prada and Burberry. Looking like a rudolph, I decided against stepping into any of them and hurried down to the carpark. Thinking I could rest more when I reached home, Lar Lar wanted to have lunch in Bishan and catch "Clash of the Titans". Seeing that he would seldom suggest such activities, I grabbed the opportunity and agreed without hesitation. Armed with packets of tissue paper, I braved the strong airconditioning in the mall and the movie theatre.

At Bishan, we also bought a humidifier, which was supposed to help achieve recommended humidity levels in airconditioned rooms and let one breathe well, especially after adding essential oil blends. So we bought one, together with lemon and tangerine essential oil blends. Lemon can supposedly ease cold and flu symptoms while Tangerine helps to relax your mind. On the same night, we added the lemon essential oil blend. After switching on the humidifier for one whole night, I could not really smell the lemon. Not sure if it was due to my blocked nose or I did not add enough. Hope that it can indeed help to relieve the agony of my running nose.

With the humidifier, we need to find something to place it on. So we headed to Ikea. It was a fruitful trip as we came back with a storage box to place our humidifier as well as a shelf to place our laptops and all the electrical coils that had been laying on the floor for the longest time.

Now, our room looks more complete and tidy, with the laptops placed neatly on the shelf and below our tv. Top it off with the humidifier, hopefully it can help to keep the flu virus away from me!

New bonding activity

2010-04-07T20:32:00.003+08:00

The long weekend came and left in a flash. Nonetheless, I felt grateful to enjoy the long break without any virus as I tend to fall sick whenever weekends come. Although I had a bit of running nose on Friday night, I felt better when the next morning came. It was also a great relief as it was a good break for me to recharge from work. My work has been hectic but so far I have been enjoying most parts of it. It sets me at a faster pace and provides me with more challenging tasks but I am not complaining. At the very least, I wake up every morning looking forward to work and not having to endure the feeling of having to drag myself to work. Thank God for giving me this opportunity and the courage to move on in life. I should have placed in my faith in Him and believed that the plans that He have for me will always be the best.

My lar lar and I have also found a new activity where we can bond. We started watching this Taiwan drama serial and we couldn't help but got hooked on it to see what is going to happen to the lead actor and actress. We are still halfway through it and we are enjoying every bits of it! We will laugh and cry together over the scenes, and during lovey dovey moments, it will bring a smile to our faces as well. So for those who have not watched this, what are you waiting for?

My darling Baobei

2010-03-30T22:17:00.005+08:00

I miss my darling baobei so much lately.... don't be mistaken, he's not my new boyfriend but my darling nephew. Having stayed together with him since he was three, I have watched him grow up from a toddler to a young handsome boy now. I remember how I used to love carrying him in my arms, stealing kisses from him, holding his tiny hands when we were watching tv or sleeping and the times when I have to babysit him when my sister were taking her part-time course.

Now that I am not staying with him and working in the far eastern side of Singapore, I hardly get the chance to see him. And I miss all the funny things that we are capable of doing.

This was taken during our first trip to Bali back in 2003. I thought it would be tough bringing along such a young kid but turned out that he brought us more fun!

Check out his cheeky looks. He never fails to amaze any photographer.

This was taken during CNY, when we were competing to see whose eyes were bigger!

Our yearly pilgrimage

2010-03-22T22:23:00.007+08:00

Our family went for our yearly pilgrimage last weekend. It is our yearly Bintan trip!!! Last year Lar Lar didn't get to go with us but this time he joined us as part of the Tai family :)

We woke up bright and early on Saturday but nearly missed our ferry. We actually got lost.... even with our GPS. Luckily we got there in time just to board the ferry. The ferry ride was quite bumpy as the it was raining and the waters were rough. Even when we reached, the weather didn't turn for the better and the gloomy sky didn't clear till evening came.

We took the opportunity to have our game of beach volleyball. And we all know that age is catching up on us when we woke up with aching bodies the next morning.

My darling bao bei & me

We were blessed with good weather the next day and we went out to the beach for another round of beach volleyball and beach activities. Before we left, we were already talking about our trip back next year! Hope we will be lucky again for the balloting next year :)

Me and my dreams

2010-03-17T22:07:00.003+08:00

Of late, I have been having dreams about work almost every night. I wonder if it is due to work stress, especially last week when the team was caught up with the launch of our promotion. It felt like fighting fire on a daily basis. In the beginning I had difficulty falling to sleep, now I sleep like a log. Every time I close my eyes, the next thing I know is my alarm screaming away.

One really bad dream that I had made me wake up crying like a baby. I dreamt that Lar Lar and I had a heated argument and the only way out was a divorce. My heart tore into pieces and I could literally feel the pain in me. And this lingered even after I woke up. Lar Lar was just getting ready to sleep when he heard me crying. He shook me hard to wake me up from the dream. I guess he had a great shock as I kept crying uncontrollably. He thought that I was in pain, little did he know that it was just a horrible dream. And he said that I fell back into deep sleep in no time after he 'sayang' and hugged me haha.... Glad that it was nothing but a dream and I hope it will be something that will only take place in our dreamlands.

New beginning

2010-03-04T20:34:00.002+08:00

With the start of a new year (although we are already in March now), I am happy that it is the start of a new beginning for me as well. After being in a rut for more than four years, I am so glad that I took a huge step out of my comfort zone (which is really not that comfortable a place). Lar Lar played the role of a supportive spouse, but of course with some level of resistance initially.

Delighted to say that so far the environment is good and I can once again feel the rush of adrenalin and enthusiam coming back to me. Hope this is a good sign for me :)

Our new toy

2010-02-25T18:18:00.002+08:00

I had wanted to buy this long time ago.
Lar Lar was anti this for a long time.
In the end he bought it almost one month ahead of me!

Yes it's the much raved about iphone. Although he got it way before me, he didn't use it till I got mine as he had problems transferring over the contacts. Nonetheless, it is a road of no return for us as we simply can't get our hands off it as we just can't get enough of it :P We will discuss about the applications and trying to beat each other's scores in games. Apple is indeed a genius to come up with such a phone! If I lag behind in my updates in the blog, you will know the reason now.

CNY

2010-02-23T16:24:00.005+08:00

Chinese New Year has always been a festive season that I look forward to every year, besides Christmas. Other than receiving ang baos, it is the time of the year where families and friends get together and catch up. However, this year is special as I am now the giving end! This is our first year giving out ang baos and this being our first year, we did receive some ang baos too. It is a strange feeling, as I felt that I am now a truly grown up adult. My nieces and nephews queued up patiently for my ang baos and all the new year greetings came flowing smoothly out from their mouths. They were truly well trained and prepared for it!

Valentine's Day happened to fall on the first day of CNY, so it kinda dampened the spirit of Valentine's Day. Nonetheless, we had some time in the afternoon and we caught the show 'Valentine's Day'. It was a heartwarming show and was especially meaningful to watch on this special day. But this year, I did not receive any flowers :'( Does this always happen after marriage??

After the show, we settled our dinner at Kenny Roger's as not many places were open for business on the first day of CNY.

Me & my darling bao bei

The four pretty flowers in the Tai family :)

Day 5: TPE - SIN

2010-02-12T23:37:00.007+08:00

On our last day, we (or rather I) decided to sleep in as I switched off the alarm the first thing it rang in the morning. We woke up at 11am, just in time to pack up and check out by 12 noon. As the transport to the airport would only come at 1pm, we decided to have a quick lunch at Ximending. Certainly before departing, we took pictures at the hotel entrance.

After days of taking street food, the Asian in me longed for rice. So after roaming around, we settled in a Japanese restaurant, eating my favourite curry katsu, yummy.....

For someone who doesn't put Taipei high as a choice holiday destination, sometimes I wonder why I decided to go there. I guess as a short shopping & dining destination, this makes it an ideal choice. Shopping and food is great and cheap, coupled with the cool weather, I certainly didn't regret coming here. Furthermore, great scenery and nature is not far away from Taipei city for nature lovers like me. Personally, I like Jiu Fen and Yang Ming Shan. Both are away from the hustle and bustle of the city and one can enjoy the serenity and scenery.

But I guess it will be a long while before we would come here again as to Lar Lar it's too hectic a trip for him! To him, beach resorts would still be his all time favourite destinations! This being the case, perhaps we can consider Maldives this October :P Deal?

Day 4: Yang Ming Shan, Taipei 101 & Wu Fen Pu

2010-02-12T22:54:00.009+08:00

This being our second last day in Taipei, we already felt beaten, after days of walking and walking AND walking. As if that wasn't bad enough, we chose to go to Yang Ming Shan since the weather was pretty good. We walked to the main road near to Ximending for a bus to the foothills of Yang Ming Shan, without realising that the frequency of the bus was on an hourly basis after 10am. So we waited more than 30 minutes out in the open, weathering the strong and cold winds.

It was a relief that the bus finally came and it took us about one hour to reach Yang Ming Shan. We then took another shuttle bus within Yang Ming Shan to Xiao You Keng. It was one of the more popular routes and when we were there, we spotted the spouts of sulphur smoke emitting from amongst the rocks. I believed another characteristic of this place would be the steep flight of stairs, that seemed to be never ending.

Halfway through, my ears were hurting, so were my knees and ankles. I nearly wanted to give up. But Lar Lar used reverse psychology and said "It's so unlike you to give up halfway!" So ahead I went and brought my tired body up to the top of Qi Xing Feng! I was glad that I didn't give up halfway as it definitely felt good to reach the top after overcoming all obstacles.

All in all, it took about two hours to complete the route. And after the long walk, we made our way to the next 'must-go' destination which was Taipei 101 and did the usual touristy stuff. By evening time, the cloudy sky musked much of the sights from the vantage point.

We then took the cab, which the locals named them as Xiao Huang, to Wu Fen Pu. It turned out to be another shopping haven but I actually left empty handed! Nonetheless, it was an experience and definitely an eye opener to see so many shopping destinations and late night markets. It definitely lives up to its name of a city that never sleeps!

Day 3: Yeh Liu, Jiu Fen and Keelung Miao Kou Night Market

2010-02-11T19:16:00.009+08:00

We were greeted with a sunny weather on Day 3 of our trip, which brought us a big smile to our faces. We took a slow walk from our hotel to the Taipei Intercity Bus Terminal to board a Kuo Kuang bus to Yeh Liu. After slightly more than an hour, we reached Yeh Liu. We headed straight to the Yeh Liu GeoPark, where the scenery was awesome.

It was a shame that the section of Queen's Head was under renovation and we only managed to take a picture with it at the common display area.

After being out in the sunny weather, the cooling 'Dan Zhu Shui' was a great thirst quencher.

We took the Keelung bus back to Keelung, before transiting for another bus to Jiu Fen. It was an old quaint gold mining town. Blessed with good weather, we got a good and clear aerial view.

At night, we stopped by the Keelung Miaokou Night Market for more food. Glad that it wasn't as crowded compared to the Shih Lin Night Market.

Taipei Day 2: Beitou, Danshui and Shi Lin Night Market

2010-02-11T17:15:00.009+08:00

I had initially planned for a trip up to Yang Ming Shan on Day two but due to weather conditions, we gave it a miss and decided to head out to Beitou for our skinny dips instead. We took the train to Xin Beitou station, which was about 30-40 minutes journey from Taipei Main Station. Over there, it was like a congregation of hotspring hotels, offering day stays as well as overnight stays.

We decided on this hotspring hotel, which looked quite high-class and decent.

The interior of the hotel room, which looked so much better than the one we were staying at East Dragon Hotel. But we had a change of mind after discovering trails of ants at the side table!

After Beitou, we headed to Danshui, which was a few stations away from Beitou. It was a flurry of activities there too, with rows of shops selling an array of food, toys and sourvenirs. We didn't realise that evening was approaching but luckily we got the last ferry to Yurenmato.

At night, we braced ourselves to the Shi Lin Night Market, half expecting the crowd to get crazy as it was on a Sunday night. Indeed, it was so crowded that it felt more like the crowd was pushing me than me walking on my own! Nonetheless, for the food and shopping, we went along with the crowd. As the saying goes, if you can't beat them, you join them!

Taipei Day 1: SIN - TPE

2010-02-11T16:26:00.006+08:00

We started our day extremely early (at least to me) and we reached the airport by 8.30am for check-in. Excitement probably got over me as I didn't manage to catch much sleep the night before. We had our breakfast at Delifrance after we checked in and off we went to catch our plane.

After 4.5 hours of plane ride, we arrived at Chiang Kai Sek Airport. Transport had been arranged beforehand so we didn't take much effort to travel from the airport to our hotel. The driver motioned us to head straight to the pick-up point. Once we stepped out, slight drizzle and cold winds greeted us. The weather reminded me of Seoul. So did the buildings. It was a complete grey and beige, which looked quite depressing for me. It didn't help that it was a complete chaos as everyone was trying to board their transport with loads of luggage and the drizzle meant tt everyone was trapped in the sheltered area too.

After a long while, we caught sight of our driver and he whisked us to the car. Due to the weather and traffic conditions, it took us about an hour to reach our hotel, East Dragon Hotel, at Ximending. We wasted no time and headed out straight to Ximending for shopping and food despite the drizzle.

We tried the famous Ah Zong Mian Xian. It was piping hot and it felt good especially in the cold weather.

The streets of Ximending.

Home sweet home

2010-02-11T01:40:00.003+08:00

We just got back to Singapore a few hours ago and we are both exhausted. We have just finished our laundry and he's fast asleep beside me. The bug has gone to him and it has dampened his spirits in Taipei. Especially with the amount of walking we do everyday. That definitely doesn't help in his recovery much. Poor Lar Lar still has to go back to work tomorrow.

Just before our shower, I asked him how did he find our trip and he only had one word for me, that was 'hectic'. I guess we did too much shopping and walking, which to him was 'too packed' a programme. I must also admit that it took a toll on me too as I came back with aching back and legs. Maybe shopping trips are really not our cup of tea and beach resorts are still our top destinations. Nonetheless, we spent a great time together and I will update more on our trip together with the pictures. Watch out for this space :)

The persistent bug

2010-02-04T15:39:00.003+08:00

On the last day of our Genting trip, I caught the flu bug. Fortunately I recovered the next day but unintentionally I passed it to Lar Lar. So he was kinda sick the whole week after we were back. Just as he is recovering, now it is my turn!

Yesterday I went out with a sore throat with Von for our 'much-missed' yearly affair, which is to queue up for Lim Chee Guan ba kwa. Out in the open and under the heat for two hours, it took a toll on my already weakened immune system. It didn't help that I was in the freezing cold kbox room for another 3 hours. With the mixture of two extreme temperature, I ended up a rudolf, with a coarse and sexy voice.

It took me a long time to get to sleep last night. Lar Lar had to get up twice to take medication for me so that I could get some beauty sleep. I hope I can recover soon and be all ready for my Taipei trip this Saturday!

Jackpot!

2010-02-04T15:09:00.004+08:00

The reason for the title is our trip to Genting Highlands, but sad to say we didn't hit the jackpot at all! Nonetheless, we had quite a fun time there, with a different experience for me as it was his agency trip. First time with his new colleagues and I am glad to say that they are a bunch of nice and fun-loving people. It is nice to be surrounded by truly good colleagues at work and I feel happy for Lar Lar.

It is also our first time together to Genting Highlands. And my first time there missing the theme park. I recalled my younger days at Genting and the theme park was always something I look forward to. But now, it is off to the casino we go! We tried the horse racing, Tai-Sai (Big/Small) and roulette. After a few rounds of games, I can totally understand how people can stay up all night to gamble. It can get pretty addictive and it is the moment after you placed your bets and before the results are out that makes one miss a heart beat. But for us, it is purely out of fun and experience and for that, we donated a few hundred dollars to the casino.

Some of the few pictures that we took while shopping around. I must say that shopping is disappointing, even when we travelled down to Kuala Lumpur. So I came back feeling so unaccomplished. Hopefully, will come back with more after my Taipei trip!

Fond memories

2010-01-05T19:44:00.007+08:00

These are some of the lovely pictures that Lawrence took for us on our actual day. It seems just like yesterday that we just tied the knot. It feels like a whirlwind, with everything happening so fast that you wished for time to slow things down.

After waiting anxiously for more than half an hour, Alvan finally 'crashed' through my sisters' barriers to enter my room.

A gentle kiss to reward Alvan for his efforts in gatecrashing.

Our matrimonial room.

Waiting for our first march-in. In the spirit of celebrating Halloween, we put on the devils' horn as well :)

We looked exceptionally happy in this photo.... makes me wonder why.

A long and passionate kiss after another round of sabo session on stage.

Couple-hood

2010-01-05T18:50:00.008+08:00

I have friends and family members telling me that they can't quite imagine or picture me as a Mrs. Seriously speaking, till today, I still can't quite believe it myself. Although it is just a change in marital status, it entails something more than that.

To me, it's about sharing a queen size bed (although Lar Lar still says that he feels like he is still sleeping in a single bed as I love to cuddle near him), having fond thoughts of him every now and then that brings a smile to my face, doing more silly things together (like making funny faces and dance moves), learning to be more understanding and accommodating, being more enthusiatic about sharing and doing household chores.... things which I find myself learning all over again.

I used to think that it's crap when people say that marriage can change someone. But now I am a living example (but I ain't no crap!). I even grow to kind of like doing household chores as I like the idea of him coming back to a clean and cosy home. I look forward to waking up every morning to give him a big bear bug and a big fat kiss on his cheek. Every day after work, I don't find it a chore at all to travel all the way from the west to the east to pick him up after his long day at work. I find that our relationship has gone up one notch, if not more. It is a nice feeling to busk in this happiness and it is something I can never understand in my singlehood days.

It really takes a couple to make a marriage work. I hope that in years to come, both of us will continue to make time for each other and treasure the wonderful moments that are only shared between both of us.

A picture that we took while strolling along the Seminyak beach, Bali, our most romantic trip so far :)

Lots of fun, games, food and booze over the X’mas weekend

2010-01-04T18:35:00.005+08:00

It had been a great long X’mas weekend spent with friends and family. It was especially memorable as we played host to three consecutive gatherings at home. We did not really know what we got ourselves into as it was indeed a massive cleaning up to do after each session. Nonetheless, we had such a great time that even the washing up seemed an enjoyable task.

Besides being blessed with such wonderful family and friends, I feel blessed to be showered with abundant love and well wishes, of course not forgetting the gifts.

Thanks to all, with lots of love from Alvan and Grace.

Our tiny white X'mas tree seemed overwhelmed by all the presents!

Our game of taboo, guys vs gals, sad to say, we gals lost to them and we had to empty a bottle of red wine!! It must be Tessa who contributed to our downfall :P

I made a super 贴心 X'mas preso for each of the gals. Hope all of you like it :)

The table full of good food, courtesy of our main chef, Jonathan (the solemn one sitting on the extreme right hand side).

We had a quick game before the start of dinner.

It should be quite obvious who emerged the winner! Check out the anguish look on Raven :P Hardly anyone can beat me at my best finger guessing game!

Payback time

2009-12-16T11:28:00.008+08:00

It has been more than a month since I was back from my honeymoon and dived straight into piles and piles of work. 12 hour workdays became my normal working hours and that explained my sporadic updates in my blog as I would be wiped out after work. And my weekends were better spent recuperating from work or gathering with friends. Not to worry, there will still be updates from time to time, perhaps not as regular as I would love to.

Yes, I know I still owe my updates on my honeymoon, a trip which both of us enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Although it was just a 5D4N trip, it turned out to be a great way to relax and indulge in the euphoria of marriage. One can’t go that wrong with a beach resort like Bali.

We (or rather I) decided on a private villa, The Seiryu Villa, where we have access to our own private pool. We can spend almost half of our day lazing by the pool at the sun deck area. Nearing late afternoon, we would make our way to the shopping belt for good shopping bargains and nice dinners.

I am glad that we chose a short trip that does not require much planning and allows us to spend much needed quality time together as a newly-married couple. All the wedding stuff prior to our trip took quite a toll on us. Even before we came back, we were already thinking of our next trip back to Bali!

Now we shall let the pictures do the rest of the talking :)

Nice and comfy bed

Living room

Our dining area, where our breakfast was served every morning.

Fully equipped kitchen.

Our pool, where we had lotsa fun!

Dinner at romantic Jimbaran Bay, where sunset is just right in front of you.

Priceless view of the sunset

Quote of the day

2009-12-15T14:55:00.003+08:00

Alvan came up with this, apparently with some inspiration while he was asking for permission to go gaming tonight.

When a guy is a teenager, mummy imposes curfew.
After marriage, he is constantly under probation by wife.
Finally, with kids, he is grounded indefinitely.

I am actually quite impressed by him :) He never fails to amaze me.

It's a white christmas for us!

2009-12-06T19:32:00.004+08:00

We bought our little white christmas tree in JB during our trip to Pulai Springs last weekend. Although it's a small tree, it still took us a while to put everything together. It's our first time putting together our christmas tree and spending our first christmas together as Mr & Mrs Aik :)

Before and after the lights came on. Isn't it lovely?

New 'outlook'

2009-12-06T19:25:00.004+08:00

What's a better way to embark on a new journey than a new look? I almost can't recognise myself!

Recommendations

2009-11-08T22:52:00.008+08:00

For friends who are getting married soon, below is a list of vendors whom I worked with for my wedding and personal comments on them.

Bridal boutique: Divine Couture

Comments: Divine has a certain style to their designs and the designers (Jessica and Kym) are inclined towards a dreamy and romantic style. They are known for their low back designs, and the use of organza and tulle. One thing that distinguishes such bridal boutiques to those along Tanjong Pagar is that they're not pushy sellers and their prices are fixed. Besides loving their gown designs, we also felt comfortable with Jessica. We took up their promotional package during their bridal show. So for more favourable pricing, one should wait out for their bridal show.

Pre-wedding shoot: Eugene Goh from Chris Ling

Comments: Initially we didn't want to spend too much on our pre-wedding shoot, so we decided to get one that is tied to Divine Couture. Eugene is one of them and from his portfolio, we quite like his style. Although it might not be the best we have seen so far, but for his price, his works are still within our acceptable level. Nonetheless, during our photo selection, we were kind of 'psycho-ed' into topping up. Being easy buyers, we didn't put up much resistance. So we ended up paying much higher.

Florist: Fleurlicious

Comments: We are not particular about flowers and we are lucky to get Fleurlicious as Justin happens to be a friend's cousin. We have seen his works before and we feel that we can trust him to do a good job. From our meetings, he demonstrated his professionalism and we felt completely at ease to entrust him with our floral arrangements. He is also one who is truthful and upfront about things and is not known to sugar coat his words just to get your business.

Make-up artist: Joanne

Comments: A few of my friends have engaged her for their weddings and I have personally seen how great a make-up artist she is. She is the first person to come to my mind when my turn came. As expected, she didn't disappoint me. Similarly, I would also recommend her to others.

Actual day photography and videography: The Peepshow Machine

Comments: So far, the best vendor I have worked with. Although I have only seen some of the pictures and the express highlights, I am already quite satisfied with Lawrence. Most importantly, it is the actual day experience that counts. For photographers, it is critical to have one who is easy to work with and is able to accommodate to requests. Great experience and good job done by Lawrence!

Certainly, we have to thank them as well for their professional help and advice.

Heartfelt thanks

2009-11-08T00:16:00.002+08:00

There are so many people who have helped contribute to our wedding day. It is beyond words and we can’t thank them enough for everything that they have done (or have not done).

Below is my thank you speech, once again thanking everyone who has made this happen for us!

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Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for gracing this special occasion with your presence here today. It really means a lot to us to have so many families and friends come and give us your congratulations and blessings. We are really touched and honoured. Thank you again for coming.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words to some of you who have made a difference in my life.

To my brothers and sisters, too many of them to list down one by one, thank you for showering me with so much love and warmth. Without all of you, I will not be where I am today. Especially to my dear sister, Sally, whom I have been staying with these few years. She takes care of me like a little princess and it is with much of her help that our wedding preparations are able to go on smoothly.

To Alvan’s family, thank you for bringing up such a wonderful man and giving us your blessings in this marriage.

To my old friends, Rachel, Elyn, Tracy and Cheryl, who is unable to make it to the dinner, thank you for the wonderful friendship all these years. You girls are friends whom I can pour out my soul to and to lean on whenever I need support.

To my another group of ‘not that old’ friends, or ex-colleagues, whom we fondly call each other, Tessa, Yvonne, Joey and Eileen, thank you for being giving me such great friends. I will always cherish the times we spent together and you girls are the best friends one could ever have.

To Alvan’s friends, thank you for contributing so much to this wedding and thank you as well, for being my friends and not just knowing me as Alvan’s other half.

To my colleagues, thank you for the support given at my workplace, especially during my period of absence in preparation of today.

And of course not forgetting, to you Alvan, thank you for loving me as you do, unconditionally, despite knowing me through and through. I feel so blessed that you are in my life and I am delighted to become your wife today. As promised, I will do my best to be a true blue ‘hao tai tai’.

Thank you.

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It’s official

2009-11-08T00:14:00.001+08:00

The past week has been like a whirlwind. I had such a different mixture of moods and feelings during this period of time. From feelings of anxiety and jittery to great anticipation days before our wedding. Feeling of excitement whilst waiting in my room for Alvan and his entourage’s arrival in the morning. Disbelief that after months of preparation, everything’s going to come into place finally. Going through the motion of tea ceremony, until Sally’s turn came and tears rolled down uncontrollably. Overwhelmed and struck by awe by our bridal suite at Swissotel Merchant Court. Bracing myself for the solemnisation ceremony and saying ‘I do’ in the presence of people whom we love dearly. Enjoying ourselves at the reception area before the start of dinner. Emotions getting over me yet again when giving my thank-you speech. Intoxicated by alcohol when our ‘real party’ started after the official dinner. Feeling of surreal when I next opened my eyes the next day, besides the hangover.

Yes, it’s now official, I’m now Mrs Aik!

Flying with AirAsia

2009-11-03T11:01:00.002+08:00

I had wanted to blog about my big day yesterday but I was too busy tying up loose ends and packing for our Bali trip. I ended last night at midnight with checking the flight timing for today and went to sleep smiling as there were no hiccups to our flight.

This morning, we woke up still smiling and made our way to the airport. To our great dismay, the flight timing was changed to 1130 hours!!! So this explains this blog entry before our departure. Agghhhh.... so much effort for ensuring we get back our flight timing of 1000 hours, only to be informed that flight will still be postponed!

Preparing for the Halloween Party

2009-10-27T23:05:00.005+08:00

I have been pretty tied up at work recently and I am so glad that I will be on leave from tomorrow onwards! Can't wait to hand over my work to my colleague today and I must really get her a nice gift when I am back to office as there's so much work she has to cover for me during my absence.

And at this time, I should be sorting out my RSVPs, seating arrangement, emcee script, thank you speech and wedding vows but here I am blogging away :P I need this outlet to share my thoughts so as to let go some of my wedding jitters.

Didn't have the time to blog about our shopping escapade last weekend. It was a fun-filled one as we went about shopping for our Halloween Party. We went to the shops selling party stuff along Middle Road and were fascinated by the range on offer. Overcome by excitement, we bought 50 devil's horn hairbands for our guests attending our dinner. We were actually contemplating getting another 50 just in case they get run out fast! We also got pumpkin containers to replace the usual flower baskets used by our flower girls. For ourselves, we got masquerade masks for our 2nd march in. I can't wait for the party to start soon! And I hope our guests will have an equally fun night with us :)

Ouch!!

2009-10-26T18:17:00.006+08:00

Ok, it's my first time. I was nervous but I tried to keep my cool. I could not really imagine exposing something so private to a complete stranger. It was more the uneasiness than the anticipated pain that kind of put me off. Nonetheless, I threw away all my inhibitions and mustered whatever courage I had and stepped into Strip, the Ministry of Wax last Friday.

The Beauty Emporium at Dempsey works something like Marche, whereby you will be given a card and all charges will be made to that single card. Payment will be made at the point of exit. Upon entry, you will be greeted with all kinds of beauty products, including body scrubs and massage oils. We were then directed to our own individual 'haven' and the procedure was explained clearly. The therapist was professional and had quick hands. It was over in matter of minutes and the pain was bearable. The first few minutes of uneasiness was erased by the light conversation that I had with the therapist. Overall, I gave 8 out 10 to the whole experience.

We then proceeded to have our dinner at this Japanese restaurant, before heading to Harry's for a drink. The gals were sharing with me tips on marriage life and the guys kept themselves busy at the pool table. Our next gathering would most probably be during my wedding day, which is in a matter of days! I am starting to feel the jitters creeping in.

Much effort!

2009-10-23T11:02:00.006+08:00

To welcome the big day, I have been prepping myself (and my body) for it. Besides my daily dosage of Vitamin C and multi-vitamins, I added a daily dosage of Meiji Amino Collagen. My maid of honour highly recommended it to me, claiming that her face has been ‘glowing’ ever since she started her regime of collagen intake. Although we always cast doubtful thoughts on her and all her oral supplements, I took up her advice. I don’t hope for miracles to happen overnight but I just wish that it can help in my general well-being.

Other than oral supplements, I have been putting on my face and eye mask every single night before bedtime for the past one week. I bought almost 6 months supply from my last Korea trip and I think at the rate that I am using now, I will probably finish it very soon. I will get my ‘maid’ to replenish my stock when she goes Korea for holiday next year :)

I have mask for my hair as well! The frequent washing and blowing (and possibly long term neglect) has taken a toll on my hair. So I bought the Pantene hair mask and have been using daily for the past week too :)

All grounds should be covered by now, from inside to the outside, from top to bottom. Oh ya, and did I mention about the brazilian waxing that I will be doing over the weekend? Now all can see what a vain pot I am and the extent I will go to ensure I look my best on my big day!

Case closed… at least for now

2009-10-22T13:42:00.003+08:00

Following the budget airline saga last Friday, I waited patiently for them to return my call over the weekend. Weekend came and went and no calls came from them. Surprisingly, I received their call on Monday morning but again I was made to wait and wait and wait. Half of the time was spent talking to the answering machine and the other half I was put on hold. When I finally talked to a human being, I refused to be transferred to another machine and refused to be put on hold. I made the operator make the amendment for me on the spot. All in all, it took me a good hour to settle this.

Well, at the very least, they managed to change back to my original flight timing and not give me some crap excuse or charge me extra for the amendments. If not, this will not be the last that they will hear from me!

Pure indulgence

2009-10-19T13:43:00.010+08:00

With days of my singlehood drawing near, I have been taking this opportunity to indulge myself in simple luxuries like spa treatments. On Saturday, I woke up bright and early, excited to meet the gals for our spa treatment at Spa Botanica. It was my first time there after hearing repeated good reviews. Upon arrival, we were greeted with lush greenery and tropical garden setting. We were shown to the locker and changing area shortly after our arrival. After changing into the robe, I was led into a nice and cozy treatment room. I chose the 1 hour traditional aromatherapy massage. I was given a few choices of massage oil and without much hesitation, I went for my favourite lavender oil. The scent has this calm and soothing effect and coupled with firm massaging, it can send one to dreamland in no time.

I requested for the therapist to place more emphasis on my shoulder and back and indeed she probably spent more than half of the time on it. The massaging was unlike those I experienced before. Instead of firm and smooth kneading, it was kind of vigorous and brutally hard. Initially it felt relaxing as it helped to release the tense and relieve the aches. But after a while, I felt slightly uncomfortable. I wondered if my one hour was up as she did not go on to massage my front. After my back, she went on only to my head and neck.

After the session, we sat by the lounge for our tea. Feeling hungry, we proceeded to grab a quick bite at The Garden, which takes pride in 'conscious dining'. We had salad, freshly squeezed juices and chicken noodle soup. While eating, we shared on our girly stuff like facial treatments and grooming services, things that we seldom got to share with our men around :P

At the mud pool, we applied soft mud onto our bodies and left it on for about 15 minutes or so before washing off. 'Enemy' and I nearly got into a mud wrestle and we actually had fun smacking mud onto each other :P We took a while for the washing as we were greedy and applied too thick a layer! We gave the swimming pool a miss as Candie had to leave early to attend a wedding dinner. So we soaked ourselves in the jacuzzi before calling it a day at Spa Botanica.

This is my ratings for Spa Botanica:
- Ambience: 8/10
- Facilities: 9/10
- Food: 7/10
- Choice/Variety of treatments: 8.5/10

- Cost/Value for money: 7/10
- Therapist: 5/10 (I woke up with sore and aching shoulders)

I think the whole experience would have been better if I have gotten myself a better therapist. Nonetheless, the place is a great retreat for city dwellers seeking solace and solitude. There is enough private space and it is truly a holistic spa experience that encompasses both the indoor and spacious outdoor facilities, complemented by the menu of healthy and organic food served in The Garden.

After spa was dinner at Coasties, which is a beach bar at Siloso beach. We had tasty pizzas, grilled chicken wings and fries. I concluded that sinful food always tastes the best. With the sun setting at the background, there isn't any better place for dinner than here. With a full stomach, we decided to take a stroll to the other end of the beach for Ben & Jerry's. As we were nearing, we witnessed the lights going off! Poor Lynn as she had been craving and asking for the ice cream the minute we met. In order to fulfill her craving (as well as ours), we drove out to Vivo City for our much awaited ice cream spread. This is the definitely the sweetest way to end our gals day out. Thanks gals for your great company!

Paying a price by going budget with Air Asia

2009-10-16T16:09:00.008+08:00

Received an sms this morning from Air Asia telling me that there is a reschedulement of flight timing. We booked our air tickets from Air Asia sometime back in June for our honeymoon to Bali. We chose Air Asia over other budget airlines as their timings were better and I guessed we paid more for the favourable time slots. It came as a rude shock that the timings have to be changed and I tried to call their hotline, which proved to be indeed very hot as I could never get through to a human being. So I went to their webby and left a message, hoping someone kind enough would bother to return my call and care to unravel this mystery to me. It didn't help that I found out on their webby that the airline actually has the same timing available, just with a different flight number. The airline must be prepared to give me a proper explanation and take on my firing questions, if not that be my first and last time flying with this airline! And I would make sure all my friends know what a service this airline can provide.

This is what I have written to Air Asia in my fiery mood but I hope they can make sense of it and call me asap to clear the air.

==================================================

Tried calling the hotline but to no avail. I received an sms this morning informing me about reschedulement of the flight timing of QZ8493 from 1000hrs to 1645hrs. It came as a rude shock as the flight timing of 1000hrs is the reason I chose Air Asia over other budget airlines even though I have to pay more for Air Asia. To my astonishment, when I visited Air Asia website, I am shocked to find that there is still a flight (QZ8491) departing 1000hrs from SIN to BALI on the same day! I wonder if this is a way to trick customers into buying the tickets, only to be informed later that the timing has to be rescheduled. I also wonder if flights are indeed available in that earlier timing, can Air Asia not transfer those who bought QZ8493 to QZ8491? If for some reasons that cannot be done, I would expect Air Asia to allow customers who bought tickets for QZ8493 to change their flight to QZ8491 without any charges or penalties. I hope to hear a good explanation with regard to this asap as we would be departing in a few weeks' time.

Tired eyeballs from too much rolling….

2009-10-16T11:12:00.005+08:00

I have to gripe about our meeting with the new wedding co-ordinator for our banquet. My previous one just left recently and we got this replacement. I did not feel quite comfortable over the phone with him prior to the meeting. Somehow he did not give me good vibes but I shrugged it off.

When we finally met last evening, it proves that a woman’s instincts can never go wrong. Even Lar Lar can’t help but agree with me for once. The way he puts things across is not exactly the most PR way and he seems more interested in telling us his lifetime story than to tell us what options are available. One classic example was when he asked us the food that we would like prior to the actual dinner. He rattled away some of the dishes available and imposed his opinions on us. He even ticked off orange juice as the chosen beverage without even telling us what other drinks are available just because he said that juice is the best! Who is he to decide for me?!?!

That is just the tip of the iceberg. This is even more infuriating. Being the new person to take over this case, the least he could do is to go through the things that were discussed with the previous co-ordinator and if need be, to let us go through the choices again. Not only did he not do that, he even chided me for forgetting things! &$#*&%$(&#

At the end of the session, I concluded that his pet phrase is “Grace, you have to help me here. You have to do this, you have to do that, you must confirm this early if not this will happen or that will happen…..” I think there is a role reversal here. Why am I paying the hotel to get a co-ordinator when I become the one doing it myself and even helping him to do his work?

I think that I have exercised my EQ to my optimum level last evening. I did nothing more than the act of rolling my eyes. I cannot believe that I can actually stomach the nonsense of this man even though I am the client here! I walked away asking Lar Lar if we can have a change of co-ordinator. I am afraid that my eyeballs will drop on the red carpet from too much rolling on the actual day.

A tribute to all our dear friends

2009-10-13T09:46:00.005+08:00

Amidst our hectic schedule, friends are always there to lend a helpful hand. Be it during times when we were too caught up with our own things or when I was troubled, we always have them to fall back on. It is especially during this trying period when we are both doing this for the first time, 'experienced' friends are so ready to share and help out. Thank you all, for lending us the bridal car, sharing list of love songs, organising stag night/hen party, being our bros and sis on our actual day and the list goes on. We would not have come this far without all of you.

Below is a poem which I would like to share with all of you, which aptly describes how we feel towards friendship.

My Friend
by Sammy Lane Sharp

We all need someone
To talk to in our life,
A friend to whom we run
In times of stress or strife

A friend who's always there
Throughout the years,
A friend we know will care
And take away our fears.

A friend who's always near,
Waiting for our call,
To wipe away our tears,
And lift us when we fall.

A loving friend indeed,
On whom we can depend
To fulfill our every need -
Thank you, precious friend

Pre-marital stress?

2009-10-12T15:37:00.009+08:00

Saw this article online and thought there is no harm trying the test, since I am indeed experiencing some form of intense anxiety of late.

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Pre-Marital Stress Test Helps Prevent the "Runaway Bride Syndrome"

Marriage has a dirty little secret, many brides as they walk down the aisle are really scared - Research indicates that over 40% of brides to have wedding anxiety. It's not uncommon for brides to experience a wide range of emotions, from happiness, anxiety, fear, stress and even panic as the big day draws near.

(PRWEB) June 1, 2005 -- Find-a-Therapist, (http://www.find-a-therapist.com/ offers help. Our Pre-Nuptial Stress Test will help you determine what your stress level is, and if professional help is indicated. "The foundation of all healthy relationships is good communication, says Judy Gifford, owner and founder of Find-a-Therapist, and our Pre-Nuptial Stress Test is a tool that couples can use to discuss their pre marital jitters and take whatever steps are indicated to begin their marriage in the best way."

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After the test, I got a score of 56. that says:

You're not alone here! Your stress level is about average for the circumstances. It is just the level of stress needed that will get things done properly.

Phew what a relief. I am sure Lar Lar does not wish to see his bride running away from the altar! :P

Hectic schedule

2009-10-12T11:13:00.009+08:00

When there are 101 things to do, time just seems to fly by. Took so long for weekends to come and before you knew it, it's gone! Saturday was spent doing up the room. It felt good to see what you have imagined coming true. With the wardrobe and bed in place and the old furniture out of the way, it really looks like a proper room now. It used to look more like a pig sty in the past :P Maybe I'll do a before and after picture of our room in my next blog.

Sunday was our 过大礼. Felt more like a family gathering for me as most of my siblings and their children came over in the afternoon. Alvan's sister felt overwhelmed by the sheer number. One corner would be the designated children's corner, while the adults would gather round the dining table chatting and catching up.

Our wedding cakes. Been a long time since we ate such traditional cakes...yummy

The beauties of the family :P

Me and my bros

The children chilling out in the room where they can enjoy the aircon!

Thank you all for coming together and making this happen. It will stay a special and memorable one for me. I love you all!

Romantic

2009-10-08T16:19:00.005+08:00

Did I mention that we paid hundreds of dollars to do up a photo frame from Chris Ling? We were sold quite easily as we really quite like the photo.

Romantic, classy and timeless. Although we have not figured out where to place the portrait, we will find a corner somewhere to hang up this masterpiece :)

Our photo montage

2009-10-05T22:24:00.003+08:00

Lawrence from Peepshow Machine did up our photo montage and we could not wait to view it once we reached home today. It is simple and nicely done. Feel really touched, especially the holiday pictures we took in the past. It seems just like yesterday.

However, we thought of changing to "Something about You" by Corrinne May. More upbeat and meaningful lyrics. This is the song to share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWZNQ8sW7Dc

Counting down: 26 days

2009-10-05T18:53:00.005+08:00

We have moved on to the month of October!!! And to be exact, we are left with 26 days. We are now left with banquet related matters to attend to and we can't wait for our big day to come :)

Been busy for the past weekend. Went to distribute the cards and spent time with family to discuss about the wedding stuff. On Sunday, we went to United Square to get the suit and dresses for the page boy and flower girls. They looked lovely. Hope they won't steal the limelight from me on the actual day :P

We had our family meeting last Friday. Am glad that my family is supportive of the extreme 'decision' that I have made. This has always been the case since young. I am given the liberty and freedom to make my own decisions and be accountable for them. This is also the case here. I made this decision, and they respect and support me. Eventually, they just want me to be a happy bride. Thanks for the love that you all shower on me and I love all of you!

Fall for You

2009-10-01T18:27:00.005+08:00

Thanks to Lar Lar who introduced me this song "Fall for You" by Secondhand Serenade. Initially when he tried to sing this song to me, it sounded horrible. When I finally came to hear and see the music video during our last kbox session, I fell in love with the song too! Below is the link with the music video.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/Secondhand-Serenade/videos/view/Fall-For-You--56755581

Hence, we decided to use this song for our express highlights during our wedding dinner. I can't wait to see how it will turn out with both of us as the lead actor and actress :P

I hope that to Alvan, I will be the precious one whom the singer sang "Because a girl like you is impossible to find, you're impossible to find."

Ms Blur

2009-09-28T18:24:00.004+08:00

Since day one that I received notification for the selection of our BTO unit, I have always thought that our selection date is on 29 Oct, 2.15pm. I was shocked when I received an sms alert from HDB reminding me to go for our appointment on 29 Sept, 2.15pm!!! Immediately I switched from my sms inbox to my calendar to check if today is 29 Sept. To my relief, it is tomorrow but still it came as a nasty shock to me as we have not shortlisted any units nor have we prepared for the documents to bring for the appointment.

Refusing to believe what my eyes saw, I called Lar Lar and made him check online to 'verify' that it was indeed yours truly who had made such a huge blunder :P Alvan was speechless. I have to thank HDB for coming up with this sms alert initiative for people like me, if not we would have probably gone down to HDB one month late, with no more units left for us :P

Heartbroken

2009-09-27T21:20:00.004+08:00

Something unpleasant happened this afternoon. Something that nearly broke my heart into pieces. Emotions got over me and I broke down in public. Unhappy memories overwhelmed me and it seemed like all my past nightmares were playing right in front of me.

I was glad Alvan was with me. He didn't say anything. He just stood there and held me in tight, giving me the mental support that I needed most at that time. When I finally released it all, he just said "Don't worry, no matter what happens, there will always be Lar Lar by your side." These few simple words were enough for me to cry another few bucket full of tears.

I know I will be fine and will get over it soon. Thank you Lar Lar for your presence today and kind words that helped sooth all the hurtful words I heard for the day.

Kbox-ing

2009-09-26T22:54:00.006+08:00

Had a long day at work yesterday so I didn't plan for anything for Friday night. Quite happy to be home after work and had an early night, looking forward to the aircon installation and delivery of our mattress the following day.

Morning came and I woke up with a runny nose. Thought it was my usual morning sinus but it persisted till now. Nonetheless, I worked on my wedding day programme so as to be in time for the briefing session to the helpers in two weeks' time. It didn't take me long as I had several references and from my experience of being the 'sister' for a number of my gal friends.

Not long after that, the mattress and aircon men came. All the drilling and dust didn't do much help to my nose. So I went out earlier to Orchard to do some shopping before our appointment at Chris Ling. We were quite satisfied with the album layout of our pre-wedding shots and didn't ask for any changes to be made. They even asked for our permission to reproduce another album to be placed at Divine as sample album for other couples to refer to! Haha I certainly didn't put up much resistance to their request and were in fact quite happy that we indirectly became 'models'.

After we were done at Chris Ling, we went to Cineleisure to have a quick bite. I thought of watching 'Time Traveller's Wife' but Alvan wanted to go Kbox! I was taken aback by this unusual request as he certainly ain't no singer. Nonetheless, I went along with his suggestion, despite my uncontrollable nose and slightly hoarse voice. After three hours in the karaoke room, I walked away with both hurting ears and throat.

Now, I am finally back home and blogging before turning in. And in the comfort of the aircon room :)

Calendar of events

2009-09-24T16:57:00.008+08:00

he he asked me to write down the important dates to note so that he can record in his diary. So I dropped him an email, with the initial thought that it won't take me very long. To my horrors of horrors, the email got longer and longer..... below is an excerpt of it:

==================================

me reali machiam ur secretary hor.... here u go:

- 26 Sept (Sat): delivery of aircon and mattress from courts (11am-5pm)
- 26 Sept (Sat), 4pm: confirm pre-wedding photo album layout. Shop for dresses for flower gals at raffles city, robinsons
- 27 Sept (Sun): Go IKEA buy remaining furniture eg. dressing table, side table and book shelf. Then pay visit to my papa.
- 3 Oct (Sat) 3pm: me go spa@sentosa with enemy and gals. before that i'm gg facial at camdem medical. may need car on that day. May also need to arrange to meet Priscilla from merchant court as well. If not then got to wait till 17 oct.
- 4 Oct (Sun), 2pm: bring flower gals to buy dress. after which to buy things for 过大礼
- 10 Oct (Sat): Delivery of sofa, bedframe and wardrobe from furniture HQ in the afternoon
- 11 Oct (Sun) 9.30am : 过大礼. After that to start moving things fm my place over to your place then pack your room
- 17 Oct (Sat): Continue with moving.
- 18 Oct (Sun): Briefing for bros and sis (so pls inform them beforehand)
- 24 Oct (Sat) 2pm: Final fitting at Divine. Meeting with Justin, our florist, to confirm on flowers.
- 25 Oct (Sun): finalise guest list and prepare seating arrangement. Look at available HDB units and shortlist those we want.
- 28 Oct (Wed) 3pm: Appt at ROM to collect things (u need to take at least half day leave)
- 29 Oct (Thurs) 2.15pm: Appt at HDB to choose units (u need to take at least half day leave)
- 30 Oct (Fri): STAY AWAY FROM EACH OTHER (i tink so... according to chinese customs... i'll prob be at home biting my manicured nails cos too nervous while u may still be relaxing in some corner at home, with guest list and seating arrangement not done up yet)
- 31 Oct (Sat): our BIG day..... (stay over at hotel, to decide whether to extend one more night)
- 3 Nov (Tues) - 7 Nov (Sat): Honeymoon then BACK TO REALITY

======================================

Pure coincidence??

2009-09-23T10:42:00.004+08:00

As I was looking through the titles of my old posts, I came to notice this freaky number 79. I had a post in August that says "Counting down - 79 days" and another post in September that says "Lucky 79". The former is counting down to my big day on Halloween and the latter is our ballot number for Punggol Residences. Isn't it freaky?? And I forgot to add that we are both born in the year 1979!

Another day on the road

2009-09-20T22:39:00.002+08:00

Another busy day for us. We woke up early to prepare for the painters to come over and finish up the remaining painting works. By noon time after Alvan's mama came back from church, we headed to my cousin's housewarming at Water Place. It is indeed a nice living environment. It can easily pass off as a 5-star resort, with a big pool and lush greenery. I like her dining area as it is separated from the living hall and is a great private area to play host to your guests.

We continued with furniture hunting for the rest of the afternoon. We ended up back in Ang Mo Kio area at a place called Furniture HQ. We passed by the place countless times but didn't even notice that there is a furniture mall here. So we decided to give it a shot. We walked out a few thousand dollars poorer after purchasing a set of sofa, wardrobe and our bed frame. I thought the bed frame was quite a steal as I saw a similar one at Barang Barang selling close to $2k and mine was lesser than half the price :P yippee!!!

Can't stop smiling :)

2009-09-19T22:46:00.006+08:00

I was bored stiff staying at home with the painters for the whole of Friday. After the painters were done with the bedrooms, I took up the broom and started sweeping! It must be an unbelievable sight for Lar Lar. After sweeping twice round the whole house, my hands and back were aching. I concluded that this is not going to be my forte. This job has to be outsourced. I was glad Lar Lar finally came back in the evening and sent me packing to my friend's house for mahjong :) I smelt the air of freedom once I stepped out of the house that was filled with the paint odour.

Today we are back to our schedule of furniture hunting. We went to take a look at a furniture place along Upper Bukit Timah and saw some bargain deals. Alas, I forgot to take out the measurements and were unable to narrow down those that are able to fit into our room. Nonetheless, we shortlisted a few pieces and would continue on our search for better deals. We went on to Orchard area to pick up our Aussino purchase which Eileen had very kindly utilitised her 40% discount for us :) After which we went to try the mattresses at Robinsons. This was like the nth time that we were there but it was just so difficult to make a choice amongst all. Not surprising, we didn't buy anything as Lar Lar wanted to go to Courts to compare the prices. So off we headed back to Courts. Glad that it didn't take us long to decide on a Panasonic System 2 air-con and a Sealy Indiana mattress... yipee!!!

The fixing of air-con and delivery of mattress will be on next Sat. We hope to be able to buy the remaining furniture over this weekend so that everything can be delivered by the next weekend! I can't wait to see our revamped bedroom :)

MESS

2009-09-18T00:31:00.002+08:00

It is now an unearthly hour to be awake on a weekday by my standard. I have not removed my make-up, neither have I showered. I am blogging, surfing the web, facebook-ing and msn-ing. Not that I can afford to wake up late tomorrow (or rather it's today) as the painters would be coming at 9am. It is because Lar Lar is busy clearing his room now. I don't wish to get in his way as I might be more of a hindrance than help to him :P

I am so tired now.... I shall wait for a little while more before I check out his progress again. To see if I can get into the room to get my clothes and stuff for showering. Sigh... I don't know how am I going to sleep in the mess tonight.

Getting busy

2009-09-17T23:23:00.004+08:00

Friends and even Lar Lar have been complaining that the posts are coming in at a much slower rate. I'm not getting lazy, just getting more busy :P Or when there isn't anything too exciting to share as yet.

As an update, we have started to look around for suitable furniture for our bedroom. And we spent the whole afternoon last Sunday just at IKEA! We didn't even have the energy to cross over to Courts that was just next door. We had to give it a miss as we were totally wiped out. The hunt will continue over this weekend.

Tomorrow the painter will be coming over to paint the whole house. And being the ever supportive wife-to-be, I volunteered to take a full day leave to be home to oversee the painting works. Although I get to enjoy a super long weekend , we have a long to-do list. We might be too over-ambitious, but we shall try to complete as many 'tasks' as possible!

And when I went home this evening, I received a big envelope from HDB. Yeah, our selection date is on 29 October 2009, 2.15pm. That is just 2 days before our big day! I can't wait for end October to come soon :)

Lovely

2009-09-12T18:54:00.003+08:00

he he, thanks for your lovely gift. I know that you are not one who believes in such indulgence, you still gave in to my small little wish. Muarks muarks!

Graduation

2009-09-12T15:58:00.004+08:00

We were presented with our 'Graduation Certificate' after the end of our 4-part counselling session. A little of token was also given to us, perhaps as a reward to us for completing the marriage preparation course.

I have to thank Felice's insistence on us attending this course (Felice is Alvan's sister). Although there are only 4 sessions, we have benefitted greatly from it. We have come to better understand each other's needs and most importantly to share it openly with each other. I hope that we can continue to work hard to make our marriage a lasting and happy one :)

New toy

2009-09-12T15:33:00.007+08:00

This was the reason I mustered all courage to wrestle my way into Comex yesterday.

My dear 'daughter' aka Von reached earlier and collected the brochures for me. Particularly narrowing down those with pink as one of the colour options. Once I reached, we dashed straight to the respectively booths to check out which would provide the best deals. After much analysis of the specifications and package deals (or rather it was Von who did it and I was simply concerned on the aesthetics part of it), I went for Lenovo S10-2. Thanks Von for the 'much effort' and yes I just remembered that I still owe you a drink.

After my fruitful trip to Suntec that was filled almost to the brim, we headed out of Suntec to Bugis for our dinner. It was past 9pm and we were all famished. It was only during dessert time that I whipped out my camera and took some pictures.

Much effort!

2009-09-08T13:07:00.006+08:00

I received an email from Alvan this morning and I couldn't resist the temptation to post it here, so that everyone can also enjoy a moment of comic relief.

This was what I received in the body copy:

====================================

he he, did I mention to you yest I much effort? when I reach home, I parked under the big tree tinking tat leaves and branches are easier to remove rather than sap…after tat when I back from jogging, went to take a look at the car, WOW, big tree oso got sap (OMG)…then I went back home get car key drove ard the car park, finally found a lot whereby the small tree branches will cover abt less than half of the car, so decided to take it. Then hor, when I walking back to the lift, saw tis car leaving a PRECIOUS LOT, I run back to the car, sped to the lot, in a way got snatch with another car which juz came in, hahahahaha

====================================

Please pardon Alvan for his command of English language here. I didn't want to edit as it would lose much of the funny element. In case one misunderstands the last portion of his email, Alvan actually meant that HE snatched the PRECIOUS LOT from another car that just drove into the car park.

In short, Alvan never fails to entertain me with the darnest things that he is capable of doing.

Spring cleaning

2009-09-07T18:18:00.004+08:00

I have been nagging Alvan to start to do something about his room ie. to clear out all the rubbish so that we can think of how to put in new furniture (once we get down to shopping and buying them). In return, I have also been nagged by my sister to start to pack my things in my room too. I thought it won't be such an uphill task since I seem to have lesser things to pack, as compared to Alvan.

So one fine evening, I took out a big trash bag and contemplate to throw away things that I thought I might not need. So I dug deep into my drawers and cabinets. I put aside my treasured books, my school yearbooks, my photo albums and many other things that I hold dear to my heart. And as I started to sieve out my hidden treasures, I realised to my horrors of horrors that I actually kept aside tons of things that I don't need at all. They include past tax assessments, credit card bills, old receipts, old notebooks etc. I must have chucked them aside without even realising their existence!

Before I knew it, I had four trash bags to clear from my room. And the amazing thing is that the room still looks like before ie. still as full and cluttered! One would not have noticed that four bags full of rubbish have been cleared and I am sure my sister thinks likewise. I am not looking forward to shifting as I am fearful of how many boxes I can shift over and how Alvan's tiny room can contain all my remaining treasures.

Lucky 79

2009-09-07T17:46:00.009+08:00

I received an sms from Tracy today, asking me about my queue number for the BTO at Punggol Residences. She was terribly upset that her queue number was 500+, lamenting that HDB cheated another $10 registration fees from her yet again. So I went into HDB website to check my application status, thinking that our queue number would probably be a 3-digit number as well.

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw a 2-digit number. I took a closer look (literally as my nose almost touched my laptop screen) and confirmed that our number is a cool 79!!! Yeah, it felt good and it seemed like a good omen as it is actually our birth year :) It is the very first time in our numerous attempts at balloting that we manage to get a 2-digit number!

The only thing is that it will take a few years for completion and during that period of time, we will have to stay put in Ang Mo Kio. It will sure take alot of adjustment, especially for me, with no one waiting on me like the way my sister does :'( I am already starting to miss home.....

Our 5Cs

2009-09-01T17:39:00.002+08:00

We use to hear about the 5Cs that typical Singaporeans chase after, which are cash, condominium, credit cards, career and car. Well, these are material things that are good to have but definitely not things that we must definitely achieve by all means.

Nonetheless, we came up with our own version of 5Cs that have stuck with us for years.

Communicate: Lar Lar is a man of few words. So I have to constantly remind him that it is critical to share with each other what goes on in our minds and verbalise our thoughts. So he has improved on that, although he still sets a quota on the number of words he says per day.

Connect: Be it physical or emotional connection, we try to make it become our second nature. We kiss each other good night before we sleep, kiss good bye before we head in different directions and we hold hands to sleep (or at least try to but we always let go in the middle of the night). Emotional wise, we know that we are connected when we can finish each other’s sentences and laugh at each other’s nonsensical jokes.

Care and Concern: This is no doubt an important aspect in our relationship. It comes naturally with the inherent love that we have for each other.

Complain: We don’t mean it in a negative way actually. Yes, it is true that sometimes I nag and complain. But it is my way of verbalising my thoughts. Haha, so no complaints so far from Lar Lar since this forms part of our communication :)

I like this!

2009-09-01T13:18:00.002+08:00

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.

So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.

Biten by the travel bug

2009-08-27T22:35:00.006+08:00

It feels like a long time since our last holidays although we just went Korea earlier this year, not withstanding the fact that we will be heading to Bali in November. Somehow it seems like Bali doesn't seem like a true-blue holiday as it is really a trip to rest and relax after our wedding. I am already itching to start planning for our trips next year :)

The intention to visit Japan in April to catch the sakura has always been at the back of our minds. And my friends are also talking about going Taipei in June. It looks like two holidays that are planned too near to each other. I am seriously considering if both plans can eventually come to fruition. At the same time, I would really love to go Tibet, the Roof of the World, or Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon. At least while we are still young and fit to do some trekking and perhaps better able to cope with the high altitude. Too many destinations, too little time and not deep enough pockets :'(

Well, I know it is still a bit early to plan for our trip next year when we're still in August now. We shall see how things go when the new year begins ya! Hope Lar Lar can keep to his promise to two holiday destinations next year ;P

Another milestone

2009-08-26T17:12:00.006+08:00

In a flash, we are reaching our 5-year milestone :) Looking back it has been a fruitful 5-year relationship that we have shared with each other. Be it sadness or happiness, tears or smiles, these are such intimate memories that will be deeply etched in our hearts.

And everytime this year, Alvan will face the same problem that is buying a present for me. As we both share vastly different tastes, I prefer him not to give me any surprises when it comes to presents (in case it turns out to be an unpleasant surprise!). So this year, due to tight budget, he said that my birthday and anniversary present will be combined into one present instead :( And after much deliberation, I decided to get a new wallet!

Thanks Lar Lar!

And I have taken care of his anniversary and birthday too, which I thought is really meaningful. This was what transpired one night when he asked about his present:

Alvan: So, I have gotten you your much-yearned-for wallet. What’s for me?
Grace: Ehhh…. (a moment of silence)
Alvan: Ehhh…. (another awkward moment of silence)
Grace: I know!
Alvan: Yes?
Grace: By marrying you, it would be the best present that I can give you. Don’t you think so? So this will take care of your birthday present, anniversary present and even Christmas present for this year!
Alvan: ………….

All his bags are packed, he’s ready to go…..

2009-08-26T17:10:00.002+08:00

This time round, it is Alvan’s turn to go Batam with his friends. I am going to spend the weekend alone without him :’( But I have already got programmes lined up on Friday and Saturday haha. And I will have the car all to myself! :P

So Lar Lar, enjoy yourself while you are there, drink more, puke more and miss me even more ok?

Anticipation

2009-08-25T17:24:00.003+08:00

We got our COE during the last bidding and we are expecting the delivery by this week! We are starting to feel the excitement and really looking forward to getting our hands on our new Vios. Our car agent told us our vehicle number this morning and rest assured that we will be heading straight to the Singapore Pools! Heng heng… huat ah!

Sweet...

2009-08-23T21:00:00.004+08:00

Came across this picture that I thought was really sweet :)

Our wedding vows

2009-08-21T11:22:00.007+08:00

To Grow Along with You

____________, today I become your (husband/wife) and you become my (wife/husband). I will strive to give you the best of myself, while accepting you the way you are. I promise to respect you as a whole person with your own interests, desires, and needs, and to realise that those are sometimes different, but no less important than my own. I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you in to my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams. I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face change as we both change, keeping our relationship alive and exciting. And finally, I promise to love you in good times and in bad, with all I have to give and all that I am, in the only way I know how -- completely and forever.

They dolled me up as a princess!

2009-08-20T15:41:00.006+08:00

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that my besties and I would be having an “all gals weekend getaway trip” to Batam. With these gals around, I really did not know what plans they had up their sleeves :P Although I felt jittery, I was still looking forward to the great time that the five of us would have over there.

After checking in at Holiday Inn Batam, we went for our lunch, followed by a two hour spa session. We immersed ourselves in 30 minutes of green tea body scrub and 90 minutes of Balinese massage. Overall, the massage was great, with the firm and hard strokes that helped to relieve all the tension nodes in our body. It was deeply rejuvenating and a great indulgence for our tired souls. On our way back, the gals were up and ready with their tricks. And that was the start of the real fun! They bought me a super bling tiara, with matching bling earrings and made a sash which read ‘Getting Married’. They were trying to doll me up as a half princess and a half Miss-Universe-wannabe.

Tessa made us walk to our dinner place at Harris with me dolled up in this manner. We termed it as a ‘road march’ as there wasn’t any proper pavement and we were really walking on the road with fast cars and motorcycles zipping past us every few seconds. After our hazardous 15 minutes brisk walk to Harris, we were famished, especially our breast-feeding mama, Eileen, who was perpetually hungry. Although they took a while to prepare our dinner, it was quite a spread and worth the slightly-longer-than-usual wait.

After dinner, we called for a cab to bring us back safely to our hotel. We took our shower and played our game of “Truth or Dare”. Out came the bottles of liquor and red wine that they brought over from Singapore. We had to draw cards from the deck and the one with the lowest point had to decide to tell the truth or do a dare. With lady luck shining on me, I only did one dare and it was always Yvonne and Tessa who drew the lowest point! It was quite a spectacle watching them do the “stunts” and listening to their “scandalous” stories. It felt almost like it was their hens’ party instead! We had to give credit to Joey for preparing the printed slips of paper and coming up with the ingenious questions! I was knocked out after only a few rounds of drinks and they continued with their games so as to finish up all the drinks.

I must say that this is one of my most memorable and outlandish gals night out. One cannot imagine what gals can do in the absence of their other halves. It is indeed not easy to imagine how five individuals with disparate characters and personalities can create such chemistry and sparks when pieced together. Thank you gals for taking the time and effort to make all these happen. And not forgetting the endearing other halves who are made to stay put in Singapore, especially Richard who has to babysit Lecia.

I am his little princess too :)

2009-08-18T17:31:00.004+08:00

I am happy to say that I am Alvan's little princess too. Although he is not one who is good with words, his actions show that he is always ready to shower me with love. There was a period of time when I was involved in a company event and was working round the clock as the date drew near. Every night without fail, he would drive from Ang Mo Kio to Jurong East to send me home, which is at Bukit Panjang. Knowing that I would not have time for dinner, he would buy food for me and insist that I eat something before going to bed. For two whole weeks, he became my chauffeur and food delivery man. Many times, I would be so tired that I fell asleep in the car. Sometimes I would be so stressed out that I did not want to talk at all. Not once did he try to probe. Neither did he expect anything in return from me. I guess that is what love is all about.

So, I must say that he really dotes on me in his special way. Not by sweet nothings but by his actions. Thanks Lar Lar, for holding me close to you all these years and letting me have an important place in your heart :)

Little Princess

2009-08-17T21:25:00.015+08:00

This is the start of a new week, feeling blue and lethargic, especially so after a weekend of fun and laughter. So, I dragged my tired body back home as soon as I finished work today. Maybe I was too tired, I didn't have much appetite for dinner. Nonetheless, I sat down at the dining table with sister and baobei. Almost every weekday, she will whip up a quick and sumptuous dinner for both of us. Sometimes, I will even nag at her for cooking the same dishes all the time.

One of the dishes that she prepared today was prawns. I am not a great fan of prawns so I didn't take any. She insisted that I should try as those were fresh prawns but I still did not budge. So she had to peel the prawns and put in on my plate. Even Alvan seldom peel prawns for me. I was touched by this kind gesture and all the more I feel that I am the little princess in my family. I do not have to lift a finger whenever I am home. My sister will cook for me, wash my dishes, wash my clothes and the list goes on. I am so going to miss her and baobei when I get married.

So I am dedicating this post to my beloved sister and thank her for everything she has done for me. I love her as much as she loves me. And just in case my two other sisters get jealous, I love all of u too! :)

Photo Montage

2009-08-17T17:00:00.005+08:00

I am in the midst of collating our pictures for our photo montage for the first march-in during our wedding dinner. Besides the pre-wedding photos, we will be adding in our holiday pictures. It is hard to choose as we have so many nice pictures to share with our loved ones.

These are some photos that we have selected so far.

His Word - Part 2

2009-08-14T15:38:00.010+08:00

Ephesians 5:22-33 (New International Version)

Wives and Husbands

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

His Word - Part 1

2009-08-14T15:23:00.010+08:00

1 Corinthians 7:12-14 (New International Version)

To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go....

2009-08-13T22:35:00.003+08:00

We like to sing this sing "All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..." whenever we are packing to go on a holiday. This time round, MY bags are packed to go Batam this weekend, minus Alvan. In fact, my gal friends are all leaving behind their other halves for our 'all gals weekend getaway trip'.

I was the one who suggested this idea of spending a weekend with my besties, enjoying a tai-tai like lifestyle somewhere without the men tagging along. This idea slowly evolved into a hens' party for me instead. I felt apprehensive and even a tad bit nervous on what the gals could possibly come up with. Seeing what happened during our previous hens' parties for Eileen and Joey, I could only hope for the better (oppsss or should I NOT hope for the better!).

Nonetheless, I am still looking forward to our getaway trip and the spa treatment that is awaiting my grand arrival :) Look out for my next update on how we wreak havoc in our 2-bedroom suite in Holiday Inn Batam. And I am sure Alvan will be keen to know what has happened too!

Counting down - 79 days

2009-08-13T16:59:00.007+08:00

I can feel and hear the clock ticking inside my head. Reality is slowly setting in and panic is the only word that I can relate to now. Friends and family members have previously commented that we seem to be the only couple who doesn't seem to be panicky over wedding preparations. To tell you the truth, I may look cool on the outside but I am feeling the heat now. Although we still have slightly more than two months, there seems to be endless errands and 'missions' to accomplish.

Like what I always tell myself, tasks can be completed faster and seem less intimidating when they are listed out one by one. I shall try to do that and review this by end of Aug.

Critical (by end of Aug):
- send my gowns and Alvan's suit back to Divine for dry cleaning (yes, from the time we finished our pre-wedding shoot, we have procrastinated and yet to send them back!)
- resize my wedding band (and yes, I have mentioned some time ago that I need to do this. YES I shall get it done VERY SOON.)
- get quotations for painting and for them to start work by mid Sept.
- shop for furniture for our room and to be delivered after painting is done.
- compile photos for photo montage and pass to Peepshow Machine/Lawrence Teo
- do our e-filing for marriage
- do up our invite list

Less critical, but still need to be done soon:
- buy things for 过大礼 eg. wedding cakes
- calling up on our relatives for their mailing addresses and full name for invite cards

These are what I can list down for the present moment. There are probably still things that I have left out. Alvan, hope you will feel the same way as I do ie. sharing some concerns that there're crucial things to be done and that we can't be in our usual self-denial mode anymore. And it doesn't help that our weekends for the remaining weeks in August will be spent on our bachelors' night and hens' party at Batam! Gosh, I think we're escaping from reality back home :P

We, the citizens of Singapore....

2009-08-12T10:31:00.009+08:00

National Day happens to fall on a Sunday this year and we, the Citizens of Singapore are lucky to enjoy a long weekend! So, we took advantage of this and went to our neighbouring country, Malaysia to spend our National Day holiday. Now you can see how patriotic we are :P

We woke up early and went to Yew Tee for our McDonald's breakfast while waiting for the rest to gather. After our breakfast and two hours of jam at the Woodlands causeway, we finally reached our destination and had our lunch. We forgot to take the pictures of our food and only remembered after we polished off all the dishes!

After lunch, we headed to Holiday Plaza for our hair treatments. Rachel and I took a self-portrait while waiting for Tracy and Alvan.

Of course, we did some shopping. And one can easily see our weakness for shoes here, with an uninterested PSP player.

It didn't take us long to feel our hunger pangs and we headed to Taman Sentosa for our dinner. The chilli crab was nice :) And the meal only cost us about RM30/person.

Glad that the jam on our way back was not as bad as we expected and we reached Singapore around 11+. Thanks to Alex who drove all of us in his manual car. I was pretty sure his left leg would be aching by the time he reached home. It was sad that Ms Aw could not join us as the patriot had to go for her yearly pilgrimage to watch the NDP!

Our First Commitment

2009-08-10T22:22:00.004+08:00

Besides our 'commitment' to each other, we took on our first financial commitment, which is the payment for our first car!!! We started our day very early today, meeting our Justice of Peace at 8.30am in his office. It was a rainy morning and we literally dragged ourselves out of bed. We were never a pair of early birds so it was an uphill task 'plucking' ourselves from the comfort of our bed.

After our short meeting with our JP, we decided to go Ubi for a test drive since we were already up and about. I didn't want to waste the early morning just to meet JP and go back to sleep again. So we went and became one of the few early customers at the showrooms. We narrowed down to Chevrolet Aveo SS Edition, KIA Cerato Forte and Toyoto Vios, and went straight to these three showrooms. After the drives, Alvan eliminated Chevrolet from our choice of cars. This took us the whole morning and we discussed during our lunch over the two choices.

After Alvan's afternoon nap, we met up with Su Anne and KJ at Leng Kee. Ya, we went from Ubi to Leng Kee to see if we could get a better deal from other sales personnel :P This time round, I was the one behind the wheels. The KIA personnel cast a doubtful look on me and asked if my licence had been more than a year! Well, I took it as a compliment and had the positive thinking that I probably looked too young :P

The interior of Forte was really quite aesthetically pleasing and looked sporty. For the price range, it seemed a good buy. However, after driving it, the steering wheel felt abit too light for my liking. It didn't give me the sense of security. The pick-up was also not as fast as I would expect for a 1600cc sedan car. So, before driving the Vios, I was not expecting much from this 1500cc car. However, the pick up was faster than the Forte and it felt sturdier. The engine sound was abit noisy but it was still within a bearable range.

So, after much discussion (and much encouragement from KJ), we ended up signing away five years of our 'commitment' to Toyota. I hope there won't be any buyer remorse after I wake up tomorrow morning.

Sneak Preview

2009-08-08T16:01:00.017+08:00

We took up our pre-wedding photography package with Eugene Goh from Chris Ling. For someone who doesn't like to take pictures, Alvan felt apprehensive and anxious before the shoot in early July. He was especially uncomfortable with smiling into the camera. However, Eugene put us at ease on that day and did a great job for us. Credit had to be given to my make-up artist, Joanne as well because she helped to cover up my blemishes and flaws!

Before we went down to choose the pictures, we told ourselves that we would keep to our package and not to top up for any extra photos. Well, that was what we intended to do. Not surprising, we walked out a poorer couple as we topped up for 8 additional pictures and bought a picture portrait.

Below are some of our favourite pictures that we would like to share.

The kind of things that we do – Part 2

2009-08-07T14:23:00.014+08:00

Game for anything that is fun and exciting, we readily agreed to Baka Chan’s invite to a session of paint ball at Bottle Tree Park in Yishun. We were divided into three teams and we pitted against each other in a total of three rounds. The game involved some strategic thinking and team work was crucial to win the battle :)

Although each game lasted only about 5-10 minutes, it was exhausting as you had to run back to our base if you were shot. And after that you had to run for shelter and shoot at your opponents when you had the opportunity. And as I was wearing a three-quarter bottom, I was shot at my shin. I did not realise that it was swollen and bleeding till the game ended! Ouch! And Von got shot on her neck and the bruise looked like she had a BIG love bite :P

It was a great game and we definitely fulfilled our exercise ‘quota’ in that single session of paint ball!

This was the briefing area where we saw the intro video and saw how professional paint ballers play the game. Felt greatly inspired after that. We could literally imagine ourselves performing those 'stunts'. But of course, that didn't quite work out well.

The one in the middle was Von. She was complaining why she wasn't in the picture for the Forest Adventure. So I made it a point to post a picture with her in it :)

Yes, that was me. Saw the exposed parts of my legs? That was where I was shot. Till today, I was still wondering who was the evil one who aimed at my shin!

Our group picture, every one of us sweaty and exhausted.

The kind of things that we do – Part 1

2009-08-06T13:33:00.012+08:00

When we first got to know each other, we spent most of our weekends inline skating at East Coast Park. We both enjoyed this pastime till Alvan’s blades died on him. We stopped exercising for a while and became couch potatoes at home :)

One fine day, we decided that we should try to do at least one new form of activity every now and then so that our weekends would be more meaningful and healthy. So, I will share some of the interesting ones that we did together.

We came to know of the Forest Adventure at Bedok Reservoir Park. It is similar to an obstacle course except that it is all done from one tree to another tree! One has to cross bridges, climb ladders, swing from tree to tree and zip across the Bedok Reservoir. The grand course usually takes about two hours to complete. And by the end of the whole course, our hands and legs felt like jelly.

That is me climbing up, slowly and cautiously.

This is quite a challenging course as there is nowhere you can place your hands for support and balance. This explains Alvan's awkward pose.

This is what I meant by the support where you can place your hands. Comparatively this is much easier to balance.

The wooden planks may look big and easy to walk on but it is still challenging to move on from one shaky plank to another!

Our group picture, showing that we all survived the course. It was a pity that our photographer cum participant, Von, was not in it :(

All of us looked quite funny with the helmet. :P

By the time we completed the course, the sun was setting. What a beautiful moment!

It was a great experience for all of us. We got to enjoy the fun, excitement and the great outdoors with each other and with our group of friends. Thanks for the great company.

The million dollar question

2009-08-05T18:51:00.009+08:00

Many have asked me how he popped the million dollar question. It is hard to describe as there really isn't any formal 'procedure' that we (or he) followed. Well informally, I can't quite remember how did we go there. I can only remember us having long and deep discussions on our views on marriage and Alvan allaying my fears on commitment and marriage. I must say that it was quite a stressful period for me as it was quite unimaginable then to even think of being a 'Mrs'. Before we knew it, we started haunting for bridal boutiques and banquet venues.

Formally, he did pop the question one fine day. And he chose it on a joyous occassion, which was the day of his friend's wedding :) Both of us were the 'brother' and 'sister' for the couple and we had a hell lotsa fun during the morning gatecrashing and subsequently the dinner itself. Alvan was busy running around most of the time as he was the bestman. So finally, when the dinner ended and we all proceeded to the bridal suite, the surprise was there for me!

We gals were resting at the sofa when Alvan suddenly appeared with a bouquet of roses and Wilson 'dramatically' drew the curtains with the pinned up question.

No surprises, I said 'YES' and he put on the ring for me :) ooooo soooo sweet!

That was Jonathon on the right helping us with the champagne bottle. Alvan told me that Jonathon helped out alot in the planning for the surprise. Thanks!

Our nickname for each other is 'He He' or '赫赫'. In case one gets confused over the way the question is phrased.

The proposal ring, from Love & Co.

Thanks for the ring. I know that it has burnt a hole in Alvan's pocket. So Alvan please try to work harder and save more money for my upgrade soon!

Growing wiser with each passing year

2009-08-04T15:51:00.005+08:00

Besides ageing gracefully (and beautifully), one of my birthday wishes is to grow wiser with each coming year. I hope that with ALL the wisdom accumulated over the years, I have made the wisest choice to tie the knot with Alvan :) This year is a significant one for me. I am becoming someone’s wife and someone’s daughter-in-law, things are going to be so different for me. It is another milestone for me. People who know me will understand how much phobia I had towards marriage. A simple word like marriage carries with it so much commitment and responsibilities. It is going to take so much time and effort to make a marriage work and last. However, I believe and trust that both Alvan and I will put in our best to make it work.

This year, I spent my birthday with my besties. They are friends who have grown up with me and seen me through the ups and downs of my life. I feel blessed and grateful that we have maintained our friendships throughout the years. I am equally glad that Alvan shares our deeply-rooted friendship (and vice versa!). Thank you all for your well wishes and I love all of you!!

Isn't the cake lovely?

We used the bowl to 'represent' Cheryl :P to show that her presence will always be felt back home in Singapore!

Yes, the cake was on a mahjong table. No surprises, we celebrated after two rounds of mahjong :)

Ice cream cake from Swensens. Lovely!

High Tea at Olive Restaurant, InterContinental Hotel.

Group picture. Mummy Eileen got to go back baby-sit, that explains her absence in the picture :'(

Our Love for Traveling – Part 6

2009-07-31T15:52:00.006+08:00

Alvan’s company organises incentive trips every year and for the past two years, I did not join him. The trip this year is to Korea, Seoul! Haven’t been there myself and intrigued by their culture, scenery and the locals (too much Korean drama serials!), I was eager to put my name down when they did the registration almost a year in advance :P

Nearer to the date, I came to realise that it would be organised as a group tour, unlike what Alvan told me earlier that it would be very much ‘free and easy’. It was quite a put-off and my interest level dropped drastically. It was one of the rare moments that I hardly looked forward to a holiday. Itinery was planned for, accommodation and meals were settled, activities were arranged. I felt so ‘not in control’. I had a bad feeling about Seoul.

Grudgingly, I packed my bag and took off to Seoul with the whole gin gang. Even before getting onto the plane, it was chaotic at the check-in terminal. We were all divided into groups and each group had a guide. So every guide was trying to check in for the people under their care. I wished I could have done my own internet check-in, instead of waiting around for everyone in the group to be ready. Little did I know that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Subsequently, for every single destination and activity, it was wait and wait and wait. I was made to go with the groups to the jewellery shops, ginseng shops, cosmetics shops and kimchi-making classes. Time that I would rather spend sight-seeing or just exploring the streets on my own.

Alrite, just in case I complained too much, I did enjoy some parts of the holiday. We went skiing at the skiing resort where we spent our first night in. It was a first time experience for both of us and I was proud to share that I did not fall even once when I was down the slope, unlike my counterpart :) For the subsequent few days, we stayed at the Lotte World Hotel, which was the place where one of the famous Korean dramas was filmed. It was my favourite Korean drama serial and it was a pleasant surprise to see that it looked exactly the same as you would in the drama. It felt surreal.

Overlooking the ski slopes from our room balcony

The ski resort where we stayed for the first night.

Does this look familiar? This is the meeting place where the lead actor and actress always meet in the Korean drama serial.

At Lotte World

Can you spot us?

Glad that we had a day to ourselves where we took the subway on our own. It helped that our hotel was directly linked to the subway so we did not have too much of a trouble getting around. We did some shopping and by 10+ we nearly dropped dead from exhaustion. Stuff at The Face Shop was cheap and we bought nearly a year’s supply of face and eye masks :P

I swear that this will be the last group tour that we will take. And I am glad that our next trip will be our honeymoon at Bali come this November.

Our Love for Traveling – Part 5

2009-07-30T17:22:00.008+08:00

Going on holidays with just the two of us seems boring at times as we only have each other to share our experiences. Hence, for our much awaited trip to New Zealand, we invited many friends to join us. We sent out invitations to more than 10 people but in the end only two eventually followed us on the journey to the kiwi land. Joey and Mike even went to the extent of booking the air tickets but had to change plans due to work commitments. What slave workers they are!

So each of our role was as follow:

Alvan: Driver

Guang: Chef

Von: Photographer/Videographer

Grace: Travel Planner cum commentator in the video

It was a 16-day road trip in Oct 2008 where we traveled all the way from the North (Auckland) to the South (Christchurch). Indeed New Zealand is a place where one will not have problems finding adrenalin-pumping activities. We went for black water rafting at Waitomo, white water rafting at Tongariro (to replace our Tongariro Crossing due to bad weather conditions), glacier walking at Franz Josef and not forgetting skydiving at Queenstown. Tramping is a popular activity in New Zealand and we totally understand why when we were there. It is so scenic that you need to be on foot to take in every single moment.

This is black water rafting, where each of us has a float and we move along with the mild underwater current. As it is pitch dark, the scary part is that you don't know where you're moving to. Guang nearly 'drowned'.

White water rafting. Can you spot us?

Yes. No doubt about it. That is me.

Glacier walking. It was terribly cold, it even started hailing at one point!

One of the walks that we took at Mount Cook.

It snowed at Te Anau. Since it was approaching Spring, snow was unexpected. Furthermore, it was my first time encountering a snowy weather.

Our Love for Traveling – Part 4

2009-07-30T15:57:00.005+08:00

Being beach lovers (read: laze on the beach and do nothing), we planned for short getaway trips to Angsana Bintan in August 2007 and Phuket in January 2008. Angsana Bintan was a complimentary one night stay in a one-bedroom suite (courtesy of my company). It was a nice getaway to celebrate my birthday there.

In January 2008, we decided that we NEEDED another getaway trip as we found that we had been TOO busy and TOO hard on ourselves for the year of 2007 :P The weather then was not ideal as it would rain without fail every night, especially after our dinner. It spoilt much of our fun roaming the small streets of Patong Beach. Nonetheless, it was all sunny and hot during the day for our sun tanning.

Patong Beach

Does this place look familiar?

Me in a tuk-tuk

Our Love for Traveling - Part 3

2009-07-29T14:30:00.007+08:00

In May 2007, I suggested going for a trekking trip to Nepal. As we did not really train for it, we decided to take the ‘easiest’ trek, Jomsom Trek, with tea-houses along the way to spend our nights. It was a 10-day trip, spending 6 days on the trek itself. We had to change flight at Bangkok to reach the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu. We spent our first night there and had a great Nepalese dinner with our guide. The next day, we took a 6 hour coach to Pokhara. The traffic was heavy in Kathmandu and it was too dusty for my liking. After the long and rickety ride, we had a nice dinner and walked along the streets of Pokhara. The weather was cool and it was not as crowded as in Kathmandu. It was yet another wonderful day in the Nepal.

The next day we took an internal flight (yet another rickety ride, it’s unlike the ones that one usually takes) to reach Jomsom. From there we started on our ‘long journey’ on foot. From then on, we seemed cut off from all forms of civilisation. We were thrown back to the nature, where even electricity was a luxury. For the six days, we started our day early at 6am and by 5pm, we would have reached another village and would probably fall asleep by 8pm due to exhaustion.

The children were fascinated with our digital camera and posed gamely for us :)

The road seemed to go on and on.... never ending :P

We woke up to such beautiful scenery every morning :)

Taking a short break at one of the houses.

In all, this is a trip that has left me with a deep impression. We spent 10 ‘intimate’ days together with our guide and sherpa. Most parts of the journey were tough, walking on uneven grounds, trudging up the slopes and crossing the streams. Alvan was extremely patient with me, helping me along the way and giving me mental support to push on. It might not be the luxurious holiday that one would love to take, but I walked away with beautiful memories of the place and people. The living conditions were harsh (by our standards) but we saw beautiful smiles on the faces of the locals. Many a times along the trek, one had to depend on candle lights and torches at night. Heated showers were a luxury. Fans and air conditioners were nearly non-existent. One had to walk miles and cross rivers to reach another destination. It was hard for me then to imagine how one could possibly live in such environments.

At the end of our 6-day trek, as we took the vehicle back to Pokhara, leaving the mountains behind us, tears welled up in my eyes. It was indeed a journey that both Alvan and I would always remember.

Our Love for Traveling - Part 2

2009-07-29T14:18:00.008+08:00

In April 2006, we went to Phuket. It was not exactly planned as the air ticket that I originally bought was for a live-on-board diving trip. I had to forgo my diving trip due to work commitments. Hence, Alvan bought another air ticket so that mine would not have to go to waste. We enjoyed the sun, sea and sand.

We stayed at the popular Patong Beach, where most of the crowd would be. Although it was my second trip to Phuket, it was a different experience going there with Alvan :) After the trip, we were already looking forward to our next beach holiday!

Our room

Chilling out at Starbucks

Check out the clear water

Our Love for Traveling – Part 1

2009-07-29T14:07:00.006+08:00

Since we both enjoy traveling, thought it will be a good idea to jot down our travel ‘adventures’. Looking back, we went holidaying at least once every year except 2005. That was when I went for my one-month Europe trip and ‘abandoned’ Alvan. He was mad at me for leaving him behind in Singapore but eventually he gave in. That is exactly what I like about him! He respects my decision.

We went on our first short trip in October 2004 to Bintan Lagoon Resort.

Think we both looked quite 'toot toot' back then :) It was memorable although it was just a short trip.

Verbalising our thoughts

2009-07-28T20:56:00.003+08:00

With the advice of friends and Felice (Alvan's sister), we signed up for pre-marital counseling. Well, we thought there is no harm doing so. Hence, we took up 4 private sessions. The first session was to complete a set of questionaire. Something akin to MCQ questions that one would do during "O" level exams. There were over 100 questions to complete and that was it.

The second session was when partial analysis of the results was shared. Firstly we were asked to verbalise the reasons why we chose each other as our life partner. This came as a surprise as we really didn't say that to each other before.

Alvan's reasons:
1) Grace makes up for Alvan's shortcomings eg. meticulous and organised
2) Grace stands up for Alvan when he gets taken advantage of
3) Grace's easy-going character complements Alvan's character as he is equally easy-going
-> Although these reasons do not seem really 'critical', hearing that coming out from his mouth melts my heart. For a while, I feel deeply appreciated :)

Grace's reasons:
1) Alvan gives me complete trust
2) Alvan gives in to my nonsense and pampers me (but with moderation)
-> Now does it seem like my reasons are much stronger?

The second part of the session talked about one major problem that both of us have. We didn't really need this to know the problem. Not surprising, it is about procreation. We deliberated on this before marriage came into the picture. I believe till today, both parties are still trying to convince each other the merits of having (or not having) children. I feel that I am fighting a losing battle. I will need more convincing. So, Alvan, you have to try harder.

Our next session will be on this Friday. We have to do some homework. Each of us has to list down three wishes that we would like our partner to do. I foresee difficulties in completing this piece of homework as I definitely need more than three wishes :P

101 things to accomplish

2009-07-28T17:16:00.002+08:00

Let me try to list down the 101 things that we have to do in preparation for our Halloween Party:

- Dinner banquet: Swissotel Merchant Court Ballroom
- Bridal boutique: Divine Couture (done)
- Bridal Accessories: Courtesy of Joycelyn Chan
- Wedding shoes: The Leaping Lizard
- Make-up artist: Joanne (Tie up with Divine Couture)
- Florist: Fleurlicious (Tie up with Divine Couture)
- Pre-wedding photography: Eugene Goh from Chris Ling (Done. 34 photos chosen, burnt another hole in the pocket. Album will be ready 2 weeks before actual day.)
- Actual Day photography: The Peepshow Machine (Booked)
- Actual Day videography: The Peepshow Machine (Booked)
- Wedding Band: Love & Co. (Needs to resize mine again)
- Invite Cards: Lil’art cards (Collection on 1 Aug. To send out before 20 Aug)
- Justice of Peace: Dr Ho
- Love Nest: still in the search
- Pre-marital counseling: still in progress (yes we need counseling haha)

And the list goes on....