popcorn

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentines day to you! Hope you are having a more exciting day than I am...! I sit here at home, its 8.30pm, alone (well there is the dog... so not completely alone) and just had popcorn for dinner. So much for a newlywed. What happened to love and respect? Please come back!

It was just a chip

You spend nearly an entire year planning your wedding day. When the day finally arrives, it goes by so very fast. Before you know it, the night is over and you are bidding your family and friends goodbye.

So, how did my wedding day went? It was perfect. Everything was perfect. Grumpy and I are so happy that everything turned out well, and the most important thing is that we made sure we had certain moments to ourselves, it is after all, OUR wedding day. I will blog more about the ceremony and the reception once I get the professional pictures from our very talented photographer, Adrian Tuazon.

We had an instant camera at our reception. It was so cool! Everyone should have one of these!

Here is a sneak peek of us (I scanned the instant photos), one with me in the ivory gown, and the other one, I am wearing a chinese traditional cheongsam.

And a funny one.. Grumpy posing like how our photographer Adrian was asking him to do earlier in the day during our location shoot "Smell her temple" "Close your eyes" LOL


As the wedding was on Saturday, we had a few days after that to catch up with our family and friends. I even squeezed in a Jersey Boys musical with my parents on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, we were off to our honeymoon. A last minute decision Grumpy made. At first, we decided we were not going to have one due to the money factor, but we gave in at the end. So before Christmas, we booked ourselves an all inclusive 5 nights package to Club Med in Lindeman Island, at the Whitsundays. It was a wise decision. My friend told me it was important to head off to the honeymoon as soon as the wedding is over, before the feeling wears out, and most importantly, to spend some alone time together. We are so glad we did this short trip to the Whitsundays. We had such an amazing time there. Pictures to be posted very soon..

Before I go to bed, I will tell you a short story about our way back home after our honeymoon. Because we arrived Melbourne yesterday at 3pm, everyone was at work, no one could pick us up, we made our own way back to the house from the airport via public transport (we are as budget as you can imagine). We took a Sky Bus from the airport to Southern Cross station. From Southern Cross, I was lining up to buy us train tickets to go back to our house. Our usual train. While waiting for the lady to print out our train tickets at the counter, Grumpy shoved a chip into my mouth because he bought a burger and some chips earlier at the airport.

Then the lady said to us "Are you newlyweds?"

Indeed we are. OMG. HOW CAN YOU TELL?! We literally just got back from our honeymoon!

She said "I can tell.. especially when he is feeding you!"

Big smile on her face.

It was just a chip. Lol.

She wished us well, handed us our train tickets, and we thanked her.

I swear, I am a big pile of love right now.

Three more sleeps!

I cannot believe everything is actually happening. Time has flown so quick...

In three days, we will become husband and wife. I could not really adjust to calling Grumpy my fiance, what more my husband?

It has been very overwhelming so far. With many friends and family that have already flown in from Malaysia, we have been busy juggling wedding preparations and playing host.

My hens party was last week, and it was absolutely awesome. A lot of time, effort and money was spent by all the girls, I am truly very lucky to be surrounded by such lovely ladies.

What more do I have to do? Hmmm..

• Video montage
• Name tags - which will be hung over a wooden pear tree
• Packing

Most of it is nearly done. I have four different spreadsheets, so hopefully I don't miss anything anywhere. If I do, oh well.. shit happens.

I must admit, I am a little bit under the weather. I have been too busy to go to the gym or even for my usual runs. Grumpy gets on my nerves every other second. Dad told me before, just go out of the house, go for a walk, get some fresh air. I guess he is right. Only today I was able to sleep in a little because yesterday was my last day at work.

Work has been equally hectic. However, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday afternoon when someone rang me from reception to say I have just received some flowers! I thought to myself, hang on, I haven't had a fight with Grumpy.... but it turns out to be flowers from the Dublin office. I am very touched. It has been over a year now since I left, and they still have me in their thoughts, wishing me the very best for the wedding.

The Melbourne office has been very nice to me too, embarrassing me with a presentation, a cake to share with everyone, a bottle of bubbly and a David Jones voucher.

Mum brought over heaps of presents and cards from family, neighbours (?) and close friends in KL.

I am indeed very grateful at the kind thoughts and generosity of everyone. It is amazing..!

I really must learn to relax now, stop being an uptight bitch, and just enjoy myself!

Three more sleeps to go! OMG!

oh what a year! 2009!

This year has been quite an eventful one for me. Most of the my spare time was spent on wedding planning. Apart from that....

• Beginning of the year I was settling back to my normal life in Melbourne after spending 6 (glorious) months in Europe. Let me tell you now, it was not easy in terms of my relationship with Grumpy and even Dopey.
• I signed up with Fitness First. I heart yoga. And running.
• I started a new role at work, which involves working with Singapore and Hong Kong offices.
• We went back to Malaysia twice this year.
• I had three of my remaining wisdom teeth removed.
• And then I quit smoking! *clap hands*
• We had a very expensive dinner at Vue De Monde.
• I had my first personal flying experience by a friend's brother who is learning to become a pilot.
• I got to see Britney!
• My grandmother left us... to be in a better place.
• We said goodbye to our most loyal dog, Simba. He will be missed dearly! It was so very painful seeing him suffer epilepsy, but we will always remember the best of Simba!
• Was able to spend a bit of time with two of my closest friends, which I do not normally get to see them very often, Little Miss Drink-A-Lot and Little Miss Bargain Hunter.

2010... I hope to....

• Travel more
• Enjoy my job. If not, look elsewhere.
• Be a better person, especially to my loved ones.
• Enjoy the life of a newlywed.
• Save money after spending too much on the wedding
• Read more
• Run more. Maybe half a marathon someday?
• (Secretly hoping to) Move to another country, work there and explore the culture, lifestyle and hidden treasures

Here is a toast to the New Year! Best wishes everyone!


May the new year bring you lots of love and happiness! Wish me luck to our wedding, only 22 days to go.. jeeeeeysus!

Mission

I went back to KL last week.. with a mission >>>> to collect my wedding dress! I was nervous, yet dying with excitement! For some of you that do not know, my wedding dress is actually made by Grumpy's mum.

While Grumpy and myself are both Malaysian Chinese... for the weirdest of reasons, we both agreed that we were going to follow the Australian (or more like Western world) rule whereby Grumpy is not allowed to see me in a wedding dress, until our wedding day. Hence, we were not going to do a pre-wedding photo shoot like everyone else back in Malaysia. Plus, we are running low on moolah.

So on Saturday, we both arrive in KL. We flew Air Asia.. because we are on a budget.. it was fine, it is not as bad as it seems. Anyways, Grumpy's parents picked us up, but after that, we went separate ways. I stayed with my parents, while he stayed with his. When Grumpy arrived home to his house from the airport, (this is also partially our fault because we did not inform them), his mum (probably equally excited as I was) had laid my wedding dress in his bedroom! OMG. When Grumpy told me, I sort of freaked out. I went "YOU WHAT?! YOU SAW THE DRESS?!?!?!?! YOU SAW THE DRESS BEFORE ME?!???!" Hahaha.. but he assured me, he quickly stepped out from the room that instant, and did not even get the opportunity to see the design of the dress. He asked for his sister's help to put the dress in a different room.

Anyways, my mum said its fine for him to see the dress. Just that he is not meant to see ME in the dress before the wedding. The next day, I make my way to his parent's house and.... I am jumping!!!! The wedding dress is gorgeous. I absolutely love it. She made it exactly as how I asked her to.. She is brilliant! No sneak peeks as yet.

Apart from the dress, I must admit that this trip was a bit sad in some ways. At some point, I felt like I was in a play called Romeo and Juliet. But thankfully, that bit is done.. and I am back here now. Phew. My mum was getting very emotional by the fact that I was growing up, and getting married, etc.. we had a fight, which Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot said that 'no trip back to KL would be complete without the customary fight with our mothers'.

Here is how the rest of my short trip in KL went...

I got my hair done by this talented hairdresser at the Gardens in Midvalley. He has digitally permed my hair twice this year, and on both occasions, I am very pleased with the results.



Each day my parents will ask me "What do you want to eat for lunch?"
I reply "Toast Box".
"What do you want to eat for dinner?"
I reply "Toast Box".
I LOVE LOVE LOVE TOAST BOX! Ya I know, its not Malaysian...



I had bak kut teh in Klang with my grandfather, aunties and uncles..



They even have a domain name..



I got my nails done. While seated, in front of me, three young girls were also getting their nails done at the same time. They look like they were 5 years old. WHY in the world do 5 year olds need to come in for a manicure and a pedicure? I asked the nail person.. "Is this normal? Little kids getting their nails done??" She nods her head.



Here is one of my favourite places to have afternoon tea in Subang Jaya.. It is called Bawang Merah. You pretty much help yourself to the food, go back to your table.. eat your food, then before you leave, just drop by the counter and try to recall what you have already gobbled up in your stomach, and pay for it.



And of course, here are pictures of my dog back in Malaysia.. He is quite old, and his hind legs are failing him.. despite the old age, he still loves to play with his toys. A boxer trait, I think.







Seven weeks to the wedding. OMG.

melts my heart

This picture melts my heart...


Seen here

Melbourne marathon

What an awesome weekend. I have yet to post pictures of my dinner at Vue de Monde from the week before (I really have to get them from my friend).. but here are some pictures from the Melbourne marathon. It was on Sunday. I have no idea why we all signed up but many people from work participated. We even got a personal trainer to come in the Wednesday before the run, and he took us around Treasury gardens. I have never been with a PT before, but it was good fun. I signed Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch for the PT session as well, and she couldn't stop mouthing the words "I AM SO GONNA KILL YOU" through out the entire work out session. LOL.

It was a bit of a shame that the run clashed with a visit from one of my closest friends, Little-Miss-Bargain-Hunter from the Gold Coast, but the good thing is that I was able to bring her to our wedding ceremony venue at the Abbotsford Convent on Saturday. And the fact that she happens to be one of my bridesmaids too.

So here it is, on Sunday, the St George Melbourne marathon, I completed the 5km run with Little-Miss-Curtains. Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch did the 5km walk instead.

It was such a beautiful day for a run. Sunny, blue skies, a cool breeze.. and apparently, we finished in 33 minutes (from the time of the gun), or 31 minutes (my personal time). The best part? Finishing the race in the grounds of the MCG! It felt really good!

Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and myself, with our medals after the race.

And today, we got our certificates. It is only 5 kms, as opposed to what my boss, Belgian Truffles did.. He did the full marathon and completed the run in 3 hrs 57 minutes! What an accomplishment! But this 5km run is just the baby steps I'm taking to do more serious running in the future. We aim for the 10km next.