pineapple

Helloo..

The past week went by quite quick, yet slow in some ways. I know, doesn't make any sense. On Monday night a bunch of us went to watch Transformers in the city after work. Sorry, say what you want, but it did not impress me at all, especially on a Monday night after a longgg day in the office. In fact, I am more excited about Bruno than anything else. Sacha Baron Cohen is absolutely brilliant. I watched the trailer of the movie, and then I youtubed his Rove appearance, and also heard him on the radio. I said to Grumpy, "He might have revealed way too much of his movie already!" Despite that, I still want to catch it when it comes out.

On Thursday night, Grumpy and I went for a drink and dinner after work. Just the two of us. I had a massive chicken parma, and a pint of Kilkenny. Felt so much like a bloke.

Yesterday, we ended up at a Korean restaurant with one of our close friends, Mr Happy and his girlfriend. It was a new restaurant at Boxhill called Su:T and Wine. The food was not too bad, but this was my favourite, check this out. Pineapple soju. To be honest, I'm not a fan of soju, I think its revolting, but this had pineapple juice with it, and it was soo yummy..


By the way, I've also put this up on twitter, if you have twitter, follow me here http://twitter.com/julee_ng

This morning we met up with a celebrant. He was decent, easy to talk to and we like him. Haha I don't wanna go down the path whereby we take all the first ones we talk to, but he was nice! So I'm kinda glad that bit is sorted.

I have to run now, out to lunch.

venue

Good news for this week.... is... *drum roll* we finally have a venue!!! A venue for our wedding reception, of course! Its a nice restaurant, I've read about it. We requested for the menu, checked out their requirements, it ticks most of 'my' boxes, arranged a time to see the restaurant, and we liked it! Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch goes to me "Jules, try the food first, then only book it!" Nahhh can't be bothered. Seriously, I'm OVERRRR it!

I paid the deposit today, so fingers crossed, it works out and stuff. Its not a grand ball room, not a reception hall, it doesn't come with the round tables with white chair covers and coloured sashes, nor does it come with a parquetry floor.. hence, it is exactly what I want! Its looks pretty contemporary, and I like it. I think poor Grumpy wanted the grand ball room, with round tables, white chair covers, coloured sashes and wooden parquetry floor.. but thats not me.. no no no. That is an American suburban wedding you see on Bridezilla.. or on Youtube! hahaha

I missed gym today. Damnit. I didn't leave work early enough to make it for my Body Jam class. Bummer. And Grumpy and Dopey are out. So I eat dinner alone.

As I was eating, I started texting my friends "How do you wake Lady Gaga up?"

Here are the responses:

Sydney boy: What? We saw her on Sunday night!
me: *answers*
Sydney boy: Ha ha ha

Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch: Take her to Britney's concert?
me: *answers*
Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch: Lame Jules!

I am not lame! I am bored, thats all!
hahahaha

Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot: What? Huh?
me: *answers*
Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot: hahahahah stupid!

Is she calling me stupid?

Mr Funny: Er.. Just dance?
me: *answers*
Mr Funny: Jeez, haha you must have learnt it from some year 2 kid

Not bad, at least his answer was Lady Gaga related.. compared to the Britney one. haha

The only friend that got it right was Little-Miss-Curtains (formerly known as Little Miss Fun, because she got a boyfriend, bought a house, and has been sewing her own curtains since). And when she texted me the answer, I reckon it was Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch that quickly texted her the answer, but she said it was her boyfriend instead! haha

And the answer is.. poke-her-face!

quite over it

Finally its the weekend again. Two days ago I had shitburger at work. It was not the best, but I told myself that it has been a while since I've had one, so take it easy.. On top of that, I service the Asian offices, which is challenging as it is, and in order to get help or a resolution, I have to go back to my European colleagues in Lux. While they are nice and good people, they can be quite rude and instead of moving a step forward, I find myself going three steps backwards. 

Grumpy and I are torn between venue locations for both our wedding ceremony and reception. We have seen a few places, and we are juggling between minimum numbers. Be it persons or $ spends. We are well running out of time. Its just so hard, I have not really started on the wedding preps, yet I am already quite over it. Also, I got into a fight with Mum, as she insists that we are spending too much money on the wedding. She has an opinion about everything and she drives me mental. When I tell her how much, she says to me "Then where do the 'Not-so-rich' people get married?!?!?!?!" But Mum, its not even a luxurious location or anything, I find them pretty average. Maybe a bit more than average, but still average!

Anyway, Grumpy and I are both quite pleased and touched by some responses we've received from our close family and friends about our wedding. A friend from Dublin has applied for time off, awaiting more finite details from myself, while yesterday we found out Grumpy's sister has already booked her flight from KL. 

A funny story is, when we were back for Grumpy's brother's wedding, they organised a buck's night for his brother, the groom. When Grumpy told me that his mum, dad and both his sisters will be present at the bucks night, I said to him "I quite like the idea of this bucks night, lets make sure you do the same for yours", much to his dismay. Yesterday Grumpy was on the phone with his best man, Mr Funny, I overheard them talking about Grumpy's bucks night. I asked to speak to Mr Funny, and I said to him "You make sure you have his bucks night, exactly like his brother's". Then was a short pause, and then he went "NOOO WAYY!! NOT WHEN I'M THE BEST MAN!!!!" 

I end my post today with a pic of Dopey. We were both in the car this afternoon, about to head out for lunch, a Food Fair organised by the buddhist society, and then Dopey felt his car was sort of leaning towards the left. I put my head out the door, and there it was, a flat tyre. It is too funny, he only got a ticket a few days ago when he parked his car on the street at our house, also his lights are broken, and now he has a flat tyre. He has never changed a flat tyre before, we rang our Dad to ask for advice.

apple pie

I have been slacking on the blog here as I have been pretty caught up with heaps of stuff. Also, I was very keen to start like a website using my Mac applications, you know, to make the most of my Mac experience.. However, I was downright disappointed when I found out that it would cost me real money, just to maintain that website. And unfortunately, I haven't been feeling too generous, so this is me back here now, on this FOC blog. 

Today is a public holiday here in Australia. I did not get up to anything exciting this long weekend. I guess its also because, I spent my life savings on a recent trip back to KL and Singapore, and also.. I bought a new fridge. Which was long overdue, I guess. But it cost me pretty much an arm and a leg. 

Now I shall tell you a story about my day. While not many people wants to hear me whinge about my weight, just bare with me on this one, I put on a few (unnecessary) kilos when I went back to KL. This is unavoidable, of course, but I swear I did. My boss reckons I put on all this weight on my earlobes. (I know, I endure too much European sarcasm while at work) 

And so, I have been trying to go to the gym to exercise (I say this will full spirits).. and while running on the threadmill today, I plugged my earphones to watch TV at the gym. The only shows on TV were cook shows and ads of fast food. While running my heart out, I saw, on TV, a picture of a delicious hot apple pie. And guess what? This is a bloody paradox, I swear, but next to my FF gym, is McDonalds. And so, I did something bad. I cut short my time at the gym, and I drove to bloody Maccas and got myself an apple pie. A moment of weakness. Bad Julee.

Only just

This weekend went by relatively quick.

On Friday, I was meant to go by the bank during my lunch break to deposit a cheque. I ended up next door, which coincidentally was a store called Tiffany & Co. I tried on some wedding bands. The sales consultant was quite helpful. Probably trying to cash in on 'brides to be'. She looked at my engagement ring.. and gave me various wedding bands to go with it. She said to me "If you don't mind me asking, what is the size of your diamond?" The innocent and humble little girl in me replied "Oh, its only just..." Before I could continue my sentence, she interrupted "Oh, you NEVER say 'Only just', NEVER, No no no!" And she was stern about it. Whoopsy daisies..

Lesson learnt. I walked out with some quotes, her business card and the Tiffany & Co wedding book.

After work, still in the mood of wedding-ness, I went by to Cartier.. Ahhh Cartier.. , only this time, I remembered not to say "Only just" and again, lovely sales consultant gave me some quotes and a business card.

While waiting for Grumpy to finish work, I also stopped by at Gucci, to check out suits for my very lazy groom. It was okay.. sort of have an idea of how much it will cost.

Finally he finished work, we went to a lounge at QV for a drink together. It has been a longggg time since we ever did something like this. The last time we went out for a drink, just the two of us, it was in Dublin, and it was really so enjoyable! Considering it was a warm night, think it was in the mid twenties, it was a lovely evening to sit outdoors and have a few beers and to show him all that research I did during my lunch hour and also after work. He was not too impressed with the prices, but I assured myself that was only because he was not in the store trying out the wedding bands. After drinks, we headed to Chinatown for dinner and then we hopped on the train home. It was nearly 11pm when we got home, and my little puppy, I thought it was a RECORD - 11pm!, he held his wee wee and poop (since early morning) until we arrived home at night and let him out to the garden. I was so impressed at this dog of mine, it must be torture! He was bursting!

Saturday night, we met up with some friends for dinner, and then we went for drinks at a lounge in the suburbs. Haha Coco lounge at Glen Waverley. It was actually quite nice.

Today, Grumpy and I went for yum char for brunch. It was my shout, only because I lost a bet to him the night before. And then... we took a drive to St Kilda. Walking on the very popular Acland St, there was a bunch of people cheering at us. At first we thought it was someone else, but it was actually at Grumpy, he was wearing Ireland's home rugby jersey I bought for him from Dublin. County St Kilda.. lots of Irish people hang out there. It was quite funny.

But the real reason we went to St Kilda, was to look at a wedding reception venue I am quite keen on. Seriously, it is the first time Grumpy has ever made an effort to look at reception venues! Maybe it was the weather, I don't know, but the sun was shining, and the place looked pretty decent. I liked it, he likes it too. But he doesn't love it or anything. But at least its a start.

After that, we drove to South Yarra, to check out a cafe which sells a specific cupcake I have been looking out for. You see, there is this cupcake company, and they make the most beautiful cupcake towers for weddings. I know, so cliche.. but I've tasted them at a wedding before, and it was absolutely delicious. Back to the story about this company.. they make cupcakes, but they don't have a retail store of their own. They supply to only 2 cafes in Melbourne, but if you want to order for a special occasion, you can go directly to them. So anyways, we went to this cafe and it was just like any normal cafe, but there was only one cupcake left. Grumpy was expecting like a cupcake megastore, with a million different cupcakes to choose from. Much to his disappointment, I bought that one last cupcake, and we ate it at home, while watching Wall.E on Foxtel. Yummmmmyy.

Anyways, enough of my wedding talk. While I am glad we finally had a bit of a kick start to the wedding preparations, I remind myself that it is 'Only Just' the beginning..

Arch Enemies

I was at the gym on Tuesday and yesterday again for my normal Body Jam class. The instructor introduced some new moves and it was really hard. I was struggling... I guess that is how the body of a lazy 26 year old copes! Anyways, was working out at the start of the week, only to ruin everything by having KFC just before heading home from work.. and this was before dinner too! Ah putain! And I also had some bubble tea! :(
Bubble tea was Dopey's fault. He bought it.

But I must say, I have been good all week in terms of the customary coffee which I normally grab on my way to the office each morning. I haven't had my 'regular latte one sugar' this entire week, I have been able to resist myself from the amazing coffee we get here in Melbourne..

Attended my cousin's wedding last weekend. It was a lovely wedding, don't get me wrong, but personally, I did not enjoy it at all. We were all family, but I felt like a complete stranger. There is a lot of family politics going on and I don't get along with this cousin at all. She and I started on good terms, but due to the betrayal of a friend (which I don't trust him anymore to this day - once bitten twice shy), we're arch enemies now. Why on earth did she send me a wedding invite???!

Anyway, this was where she had the wedding reception. It was a nice venue. I'm on the lookout for good venues...

Sumac at Docklands.

With 2 of my other cousins. They're good kids.

With my cousins, my aunt and uncle (parents of the bride). Love her cheongsam. Stunning.

And of course, a picture with my lovely Grumpy, who was so upset (with ME, and only ME) towards the second half of the night just because I said he couldn't have another beer. Jeeeeeesus. Somebody shoot me! You know you shouldn't be drinking when you're driving?!!

glamourpuss

Today at work, I was in the mood to make appointments. Sometimes I just can't be bothered. But today, I decided to ring the dog groomer to book my dog in for a haircut. The next available Saturday is sometime in April. I swear, dog groomers make so much money. And the next available weekday appointment is like in 2 weeks time. So fine, we'll do the weekday one because he is starting to look like a mess. A cute mess, but still, a mess.

Then I ring up my favourite beauty salon to get my nails done. I am attending a wedding on Sunday, and I thought I'd better hurry up and book in for my favourite manicure and pedicure. Then I thought, since I'm there, might as well get a wax done. The girl at the Korean salon was lovely and sweet, she said "What type of manicure and pedicure would you like?" 

"Just a normal manicure and pedicure please" I replied.

Then she goes "And errr what type of wax would you like?" 

*pause* 

*pause* 

*PAUSE*

This is me, very conscious of sitting in an open plan office, and surrounded by a team of men.. (I am the only girl in my team).. 

I say "Er... just a normal one please" (trying to avoid having to say the word 'wax' in the office too loud)

She goes "Err... what type of wax would you like?"

Me, "A normal one.."

She goes "A body wax?"

Me, "Yeahh... that one" (What on earth is a body wax? I want a Brazilian, but please don't make me say Brazilian out loud in an open plan office, and especially with so many guys around my desk)

Then I say "Look, I'll see you on Friday at 5.30 okay?"

I don't think she got the picture but she goes "Okay".

Phewww! Bet you the boys around me were dying to burst out laughing.