flowers

I have not been feeling my best, I must admit. I was sick last Thursday. It was awful. I threw up six times. Yes. One, two, three, four, five,.. SIX times! No I am not pregnant. It must have been something I ate or drank. I have been careful, watching what I eat.

Believe it or not, Chapel Press took ages to get back to me. A bit disappointed there. Anyways, in my previous post, I mentioned about the other Letterpress designer, I call her Karen from W & G, even though she goes by the lovely name of Meaghan, she actually responded to me the following Monday. So today we finalised the boring bits (i.e. money, invoice, terms and conditions, payment).. in the next week, she will start working on our invites and I am already quite excited. I need to work on the wording soon. I guess it is all becoming more and more real now!

I met up with a really nice florist ages ago. She was lovely too, but a tad pricey. I will be meeting another florist in Prahran this weekend, just to get a cheaper quote. Grumpy does not give a rats ass about flowers. I found this picture on this website yesterday and I love it, aren't her flowers beautiful? I'm thinking, I'm sure I can whip this up myself? I told Grumpy the kind of look I am going for are flowers that look like I just picked them out from my garden... and he goes "What? You want to pay someone all that money, to look like you just picked them out yourself from your own backyard?"

Royal Melbourne Show

A few weeks ago my boss asked me, very casually if I was interested in doing a three day training program for some new starters here in the Melbourne office. At first I was like.. ermm.. are you serious?! :(

But after giving it some thought, I said Yes, why not?! If I said no, he might take it the wrong way. Also, as Training is included in our official job descriptions, I had to... at some point, in my role, do some form of training activity for people. I have done it in Dublin before and it was fine.

On Monday morning, I came in early, turned on my 'Out of office' for the next three days, and went into the Training Room. There were five new starters and I had to give them training in our registry system. It went really well, I must admit. It was the first time I was doing training in the Australian office. I thought I would be nervous, and when I'm nervous, I talkreallyreallyfast.. but I was quite calm. My friends would occasionally peek through the glass walls to check on me and give me a grin from the outside. Everyone else in the office, apart from the five new starters, would occasionally raise their hand when they see me walking past, saying "Miss!!! Excuse me Miss!"

My boss thought I would be exhausted on Monday being the first day. But it was only on Wednesday evening that it hit me. I felt so thirsty, even after drinking heaps of water. My throat felt sore and I was really tired by home time. I even made it to Body Jam class that Wednesday evening, but I could not help myself from yawning in class!

Friday morning, much to my surprise, my boss and I received an email from the head of the department saying thank you for the training. There were a lot of kind words about me too. Its nice to receive some positive feedback and just a simple thanks. This is a key element that appears to be missing from my colleagues in the Singapore office. And an even better part of the email was that many of my senior bosses in the Luxembourg office were copied in the email. Big smile on my face!

Okay now on a different note, the wedding preparations. I mentioned on Twitter recently, that I am experiencing symptoms of a very lazy bride to be. I really need to get my invitations sorted. A few weeks ago, I was in contact with a nice girl who owns her own letterpress business. Personally, I am more keen on helping out sole business owners as opposed to larger companies. I have seen her work, and I like it. She was so lovely over the phone, sounded like Karen from Will & Grace. Karen is my favourite W&G character, after Jack. However, after a series of unanswered emails and voice messages, I have had to resort to a different famous letterpress company here in Brighton.

So I went for my first appointment with Chapel Press yesterday, alone.. shame, I wanted Grumpy to come along but he had to work. It went really well. It was important for Grumpy to see how the letterpress invites look like, because they cost a lot more than normal digital printed invitations. Letterpress invites are definitely not the cheap route... but when I got there, and after seeing the samples, I was sold! Grumpy has no choice now.

Spoke to Mum about them. She said "Girl, why don't you make them in Malaysia? They are sooo good over here!!" I told her I could not delay it any longer. Invitations take at least six weeks. When I go back in November, its just too late to get my invites printed at that time. She said "No lahh in Malaysia you can get them sooo much faster, not six weeks lah!!" She tried hard to convince me on going the Malaysian way, but I am known for being stubborn in the family. She said "How much do they cost?" I lied, "$10 each" hahhahaha There were many OMGs after.. chill mother chill. By the way, they DO NOT HAVE LETTERPRESS wedding invites in Malaysia. Come on!

I end with some pictures from the Royal Melbourne Show last night. I had so much fun. I took these few pictures from my iPhone, more pictures to come from Mr Happy's Olympus PEN camera.

They felt nice..like a rug! Told Grumpy, the next time you eat lamb, think of this little fella here!




I am SOOO gonna take you home with me! :)

post surgery

The recovery period from my wisdom teeth surgery has been good. I had the entire last week off from work to rest. Yes, to rest, not a holiday! Everyone else thought I was on holidays. Jeez.

Days 1-4 post surgery. I eat only soft foods ie. porridge or soft boiled eggs with toast for brekkie, yoghurt or noodles for lunch, and congee for dinner. I walk around the house with ice packs wrapped around my cheeks.

Day 5 post surgery. Wednesday. The eve of my birthday. Grumpy and I decide to go out to a nice restaurant for dinner. I can only chew on one side of my mouth, but I want to celebrate! I get us dinner reservations at Tempura Hajime in South Melbourne at the last minute. Tempura Hajime can only sit 12 patrons at a time, and so you can imagine it is indeed a very intimate dining experience. Like the name of the restaurant, the chef cooks only tempura, in front of you, similar to teppanyaki.

There were 12 of us earlier that night, but because being the 'natural born slow eater' that I am, and also with only half my chewing capabilities that night, we were the last ones left in the restaurant at that time. Everyone else had finished and gone home. hehe I was very quick to receive sympathy from the chef due to my wisdom teeth. Another good thing with this restaurant is that he cooks based on how quick or slow you eat.. Overall, it was a good restaurant, absolutely delicious food, and very friendly service.

Grumpy and I, weird how I could even manage a smile. It must have hurt.

Day 6 post surgery. My birthday. I still can't chew properly, and OMG, there is visible bruising on my face! WTF. It is yellow!

Day 7 post surgery. I decide its time to go to the gym. I choose to go for a session of yoga. It is important that I keep all physical movements to a bare minimum. I get tired easily, and occasionally feel sore around the jaw. Later that night, I agree to meet the girls for dinner at TGIF in Jam Factory, South Yarra. "Will you be able to eat Jules?" they asked. "Yes, I'll try". I pick a nice salad for dinner instead of steak or ribs, ya know..

"Jules, what do you want as a birthday present?" asked Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch. With all the spare time I had at home in recovery, I surfed a lot on Net-a-porter, mytheresa.com, and Shop Zoe Online. I replied, "Miu Miu bag".

So.. what do you know.. my friends go out and get me a Miu Miu bag..

Notice the yellow spot on the side of my jaw? :(

I read my birthday card from the wombats (we call each other wombats). It is hilarious. In the card, there is a picture of me from my previous post (face wrapped with ice packs), photoshopped into a fairy = a tooth fairy.

I also get a knitted scarf, which comes with a hood. Its really nice. I love it.

And a little note pad, in the shape of a cute bag. They also stick a Miu Miu label for me on this bag. Too funny.

I get chocolates, lollies, chewing gum, Smarties. Must be the work of Little Miss-Whats-for-Lunch.

But the main presents were two books from the Twilight series. Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. I'm still half way reading New Moon.

After dinner, we head out to Little Miss Curtains new home in Cranbourne North. She's a dear little friend of mine, and I am so very happy for her that she is finally moving in to her very own home, which she bought together with her boyfriend.

Here is a picture of us together in her living area. The house is still very new, and not completely furnished as yet.

Day 10 post surgery. I return to work on Monday. My yellow bruise is now green! Everyone comes up to talk to me, asking me how it went and sharing wisdom teeth stories.

Today is Day 15 post surgery. There is still some bruising, but I am fine. Occasionally I feel tired after too much chewing.

I will see my surgeon soon in ten days.