Gaga ooh la la

About six months ago, my workmate Little Miss-Don't-Mess-With-Me asked if we wanted to go to Lady Gaga's concert. We were a bit adamant at first, but we thought.. why not? Fast forward six months later, Lady Gaga releasea her new awesome video 'Telephone' and is now in Melbourne for three shows! We bought tickets to her 2nd show and we got pretty good seats.

Finally Wednesday arrived and I am so excited about this concert! Some of fans arrived at Rod Laver arena in wigs and outfits. For the less adventurous ones, like us, went in jeans and a tee shirt :(

Little Miss-Don't-Mess-With-Me and Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch

We dragged Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch to a Lady Gaga concert. She is more into non-Lady Gaga type of music, boring stuff like Josh Groban. I had to endure six months of "I can't believe I agreed to go to this Lady Gaga concert with you! She is mad!" blah blah blah

Oh shoosh, its about time you listened to some cool music!

We had a pair of binoculars, courtesy of Little Miss-Don't-Mess-With-Me

Just a bit before 9pm, the 'Monster Ball' show started.

The last picture on the bottom right was when she appeared, opening the show with 'Dance in the Dark'. She sang the entire song behind that screen. I looked at Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and we went "Urm, is she going to come out or what?" LOL

One of my all time favourite Lady Gaga songs is 'Just Dance'. I recorded it on my digital camera:

She is very talented, she writes her own songs, plays the keyboard, piano, sometimes the guitar, dances and sings LIVE. Unlike Britney and Madonna, who are known to lip synch during concerts.

Full house!

Highlights include playing on a piano that was on fire, coming out in outrageous costumes, including fireworks on her girlie bits - both top and bottom.. but here is my favourite costume!

It was a fairy-like outfit, complete with wings and fins that moved!

She was constantly speaking to the crowd, calling her fans 'Little Monsters'. I love an artist that interacts with their fans! She performed for two hours straight, with only very quick breaks in between to change outfits.

Her last song for the night was the very popular 'Bad Romance'.

We really enjoyed her concert. She is a brilliant artist and an amazing pop star! So awesome.

Wedding - Tea Ceremony

We had some mixed feelings about having a tea ceremony here in Australia. My mum insisted we MUST have one, especially when we were not going to have a wedding reception back home in KL. She constantly reminds me that I am chinese after all, and these are all part of chinese customs.

We could not decide on the time, when do we have it? Before the civil ceremony? After? The next day? Oh gawd. On top of that, we had to consider things if we could fit it in with the schedule, could the photographer and videographer squeeze it in? Did we have to extend their time? Was it going to cost more?

Finally, we decided we were having it after the civil ceremony and location shoot, an hour before the reception. Civil ceremony was at 2.30pm. We needed the civil ceremony to be short and sweet, then we had an hour of location shoot. A few minutes to calm down, and the tea ceremony was at 5.30pm at the hotel. I stayed at Melbourne's Crowne Plaza the night before the wedding, and the wedding night. It was central, in the city, not too far from the reception. So thankfully, it worked out well.

When Grumpy and myself arrived at the hotel, I had to quickly change into my red chinese cheongsam made by my mother-in-law. After fitting in to the dress, my mum fed me with 'tong yuen' which is little coloured balls, made out of flour, cooked in water and syrup for good luck. She made the 'tong yuen' very early in the morning, as I told her she had to be at my hotel room by 7am, that was when the make up artist arrived.

The cheongsam is made out of Thai silk. It was a short cheongsam, just above my knees, with two slits at the sides. The top of the dress was made out of lace. My mother-in-law and her crew bought the fabric from Thailand. I did not pick the design. In fact, I had no idea what to expect out of the cheongsam. But when she arrived and showed me the dress, I was absolutely delighted. It was simple and so beautiful.

One of the important ingredients of a wedding tea ceremony, is of course, the tea pot and the tea cups.

My mum loves paintings of ducks, little figurines of ducks, baby ducks, etc. She went to Chinatown in KL to hunt for the perfect tea pot.

Dopey's girlfriend, Little Miss Oh-So-Sweet took the task of helping serve the tea. She handled it really well.

Serving tea to my father-in-law

Grumpy serving tea to his mother

Receiving some gold jewellery from my in-laws

Apart from gold jewellery, we received ang pao's from our family. Our photographer Adrian was very amused with these Power Puff Girls red packet.

After we were done with Grumpy's family, we served tea to my parents.

And finally, the only recipient of ang pao's from Grumpy and myself, was my one and only younger brother Dopey. He served us tea, and was very happy to finally call Grumpy his brother!

I personally found the tea ceremony slightly stressful. Partially because the thought of having both our families confined in a little hotel room was not ideal. But looking at the photos, I guess it was not THAT bad! :)

All images by Adrian Tuazon Photography

Wedding Ceremony - Part Two

I decided that my father was not going to officially give me away. Mainly because I told him I was not a chattel, to be given away. Well at least, not so easily. He agreed. However, it would still mean a lot to the both of us, if he still walked me down the aisle for support.

After walking down the aisle together, instead of the formal "Do you give away your daughter away?" question, he gave both Grumpy and myself a big smile and a hug, and then I was ready to be married to the love of my life.

I must say it was pretty daunting, standing in front of my closest family and friends, declaring our love for one another. Hours before the ceremony, one of the thoughts that was in my head was that we should have just done a Spring Street Registry office wedding. Hehehe...

Some friends asked if I cried, well the answer is no. I did not cry when he proposed, so I was not going to cry on our wedding day, one and a half years later. But it was still very emotional and the good thing was that my make up was still intact. The last thing I want is to rub off those fake lashes and wipe off my foundation :)

We started off the ceremony with a reading by Dopey, my brother. I personally picked the three (very lucky) readers and the readings myself. I spent too much time reading poems, doing my bit of research. I am very happy with the top three readings chosen for the wedding.

Dopey wanted a short poem, and so I gave him 'The Magic of Love' by Helen Steiner Rice.

Love is like magic, and it always will be,
For love still remains life's sweet mystery.
Love works in ways that are wondrous and strange,
And there's nothing in life that love cannot change!
Love can transform the most commonplace
Into beauty and splendor and sweetness and grace.
Love is unselfish, understanding and kind,
For it sees with its heart, and not with its mind.
Love is the answer that everyone seeks;
Love is the language that every heart speaks.
Love can't be bought, it is priceless and free.
Love, like pure magic, is life's sweet mystery

After the reading, we presented both our mothers with a single pink rose to thank them for all their love and support.

The second reader was my cousin. She was not too fussy about the reading as she has done a few. Mainly the Corinthians, I would think. And so I gave her the longest one of all, but with a bit of humour. She read 'I'll Be There For You' by Louise Cuddon.

I'll be there my darling, through thick and through thin

When your mind's in a mess and your head's in a spin
When your plane's been delayed, and you've missed the last train.
When life is just threatening to drive you insane
When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page
When somebody tells you, you're looking your age
When your coffee's too cool, and your wine is too warm
When the forecast said "Fine", but you're out in a storm
When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum
And your holiday photos show only your thumb
When you park for five minutes in a resident's bay
And return to discover you've been towed away
When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste
Just stick on your hips and don't reach round your waist
When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes
When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes
So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear...
When you break a rule, when you act the fool
When you've got the flu, when you're in a stew
When you're last in the queue, don't feel blue
'cause I'm telling you, I'll be there

The last reader, was the most nervous one of them all.

A very dear (and hot) friend of mine, Little Miss Somersault, who flew in all the way from Singapore to attend our wedding. As she was extremely worried about speaking out in front of all these strangers, I gave her the shortest and most simple poem. It was the most touching one for me. She read 'I Carry Your Heart' by E. E. Cummings.

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)

I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear; and

whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)

I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

And it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

And whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and

the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

We did not write our own vows. However we did put some thought into the vows that we picked. The vows started off with "I have lived with you and I love you", which is true as we have been living together (in sin, like how a close friend of mine always reminds me) for seven and a half years.

And now the first kiss as husband and wife, a topic we discussed together on numerous occasions. We saw many wedding photos and noted how some first kisses were 'epic fail'. LOL. It is mean of me to say that, I know, but sometimes I am a hopeless romantic, the first kiss has to be sweet, and with feeling! However, I am not going to pride myself on our first kiss. As long as it feels right, that is the most important thing.

Finally the celebrant pronounced us husband and wife, the ceremony was over and phewww, we both felt so happy and relieved!

All images by Adrian Tuazon Photography

car damage

Melbourne is enjoying, no, wrong word... Melbourne is recovering from the long weekend. Two days ago we experienced crazy hail storms. It was good that I was home, safe and sound with my dog. But my husband, had the car parked on the rooftop of a city parking spot, and today we discovered the damage it has caused our car... After waiting more than an hour on the phone, on hold, with our insurance company, we finally spoke to a customer service representative and it will cost us $500 of excess fee to fix and repaint the entire car.

Wedding Ceremony - Part One

It has been more than a month after the wedding. We have received the photos from our wedding photographer, Adrian Tuazon. There are heaps of photos, and I will try my best to describe how my big day went.

You cannot imagine how nervous I was. While I thought I would fall asleep easily the night before the wedding, mainly due to exhaustion, it certainly was not the case. I got no sleep at all and was extremely stressed on the lead up to the big day. Yes, the nerves were definitely kicking in.

While the day was pretty windy, I thank my lucky stars that it was not raining! It rained earlier in the morning, and I nearly fell off my chair while I was getting my make up done, just looking out at the window in the hotel. But by the afternoon, the grey clouds disappeared, the skies turned blue and the sun was shining.

One of my closest friends, Mr Happy, was appointed the driver of our bridal car. He picked us up early from the hotel and we arrived at the ceremony venue very early. To kill time, we made a pit stop to a nearby McDonalds, as we had a very hungry driver in the car. Mr Happy helped pick up my wedding flowers earlier in the morning from the florist, drop them off to me at the hotel, and deliver the buttonholes to the boys. Finally it was 2.30pm, we drove in to the convent, and I was (NOT) ready to step out the car.

Walking to the oak tree, where all the guests were waiting

My dog made a special guest appearance, starting off the processional!

Followed by the two kids, my bridesmaid Little Miss Bargain Hunter and my Maid of Honour, Little Miss-Drink-A-Lot. They walked in to 'Ave Maria' by Beyonce....

Next up, was my turn!

My father looks hilarious here. He is a retired navy captain and he took the 'walk his daughter down the aisle' duty very seriously.

I picked 'I Love NYE' by Badly Drawn Boy for the Bridal Entrance song. While the name of the title does not particularly suit the whole wedding thing, it is a song I personally loved a long long time ago. It was used in the movie About A Boy, and also in an episode of SATC, whereby Harry proposes to Charlotte (a scene which makes me burst into tears).

There you go. I made it to the ceremony, in one piece.

It was the first time my groom has seen me in my wedding dress. I cannot believe how we managed to keep it a surprise, considering his mum made my wedding dress and us, living together in the same house. But we did it, and he told he could not describe the feeling. It was really special.

All images by Adrian Tuazon Photography

It was paradise

Straight after the wedding, we were off to a short and sweet honeymoon at the Whitsundays in Queensland. We booked for 6 days at Club Med in Lindeman Island. So first thing on Wednesday, we took the morning flight to Hamilton Island. We were so excited!! Finally we had some alone time together!!

When we arrived at the airport in Hamilton Island, we got on a boat transfer that brought us to Lindeman Island. This is what it looked like, when we were on the boat:

Oh shit.

But... we assured ourselves, we were going to catch up on sleep anyways. And its nice to sleep when its pouring outside, right?

Half an hour later, we arrive at Club Med. We were greeted by the GMs (they call themselves Gracious Members) and GOs (Gracious Officers). Although, we have no idea what is the difference between the two.

The next day, it is beautiful and sunny! I am so happy!

The best part of staying in such a resort, is the all inclusive thing. We had no need for our wallets for the remaining six days. For Grumpy, his favourite part was the drinks.. beer, cocktails, spirits... as much as you want!

The pool overlooks the beach. We would sit by the pool, under the coconut trees, have a nice cocktail, read a book, fall asleep and wake up with a tan! It was paradise.

During the nicer days, we signed up for a kayak excursion to a nearby island. That was a 7.30am start! Grumpy and myself shared a kayak. It was really fun and scary at the same time, because we were really out in the sea. When we arrived safely at the other island, I was so relieved!

Notice behind me, that is the resort. Doesn't look too far, but I promise you, it is, when you are kayaking with fake nails from the wedding, and a husband who is still half asleep.

When we got to this other island, we took a short hike and arrive to another beautiful beach. I took with me two pumice stones from the beach, so that I can give myself a pedicure when I return to Melbourne. These are real pumice stones, so light in weight.

Before we make our way back to the resort, someone offered to take a picture for us.

At night, after dinner, we would normally stay back in the theatre to watch the performance. There would be people doing sketches, singing, hanging from the trapeze, etc. My favourite bit was the Mini Club, which were little kids performing. They were absolutely adorable.

At the end of each night, we would then head back to our rooms and sit by the balcony, which overlooks the sea, and just listen to the waves. The temperature in the island was perfect too. It was cool enough at night, but still no need for a jacket (unlike Melbourne).

We decided to go for another excursion one day to Whithaven Beach. This beach is among the top ten beaches in the world. Visitors are not allowed to stay on the beach (to protect it), so only day trips are permitted. Famous for its white silica sand.. we were warned to be careful with our cameras as the sand was so soft and fine, it could damage our cameras. We booked with the excursions manager, paid the tickets, and boarded the boat the next day. We were quite excited..

When we got on the boat, the excursion manager came running to us, telling us to get back to the jetty. "Whithaven trip is cancelled! The weather is quite bad!"

Oh shit! AGAIN!

So we did not make it to Whithaven... shame!

Instead, we headed back to the resort and we took a two hour hike (return - by foot!) to another beach, called Coconut beach. Coconut beach is in Lindeman Island itself. It was quite beautiful. The best part was that because it took us forever to arrive to this beach, when we got there, we were the ONLY two people in the beach. Very rarely we get an entire beach all to ourselves!

The water was so amazing. It was the perfect temperature. Grumpy took heaps of pictures of me. Of course he did, as he is my biggest fan! (Or at least I would like to think he is). And when you can't go to the gym to do yoga because you are in a far far away island,.... you bring yoga to the island with you! Notice how my feet would sink in to the sand, it was very soft...

Apart from doing yoga poses and playing tennis (especially after watching the finals between Roger Federer and Andy Murray), I accompanied my hubz to the golf course as well. The seventh hole, is at the peak, which overlooks the sea. Breathtaking views!

Lucky number seven :)

The honeymoon was absolutely perfect. Despite some bad weather, we enjoyed every minute at Lindeman island. We caught up with sleep, ate too much food, drank one too many cocktails, and most importantly, we had each other. All to ourselves. In a beautiful island.

Video Montage

I thought I would share with you the video montage I worked on for the wedding. When I went back to KL in November last year to collect my wedding dress, I spent some time looking through plenty of photos, especially baby photos :)

Even for the first four or five years we were together, digital cameras were not available, so all of the photos were taken on film. Looking at the pictures, I cherish a lot of moments, not only with Grumpy, but with my family and friends.

We scanned the pictures, and I used iMovie on the Mac to create this video. It was kinda stressful, because on the eve of the wedding, it was only 80% completed. I was about to forgo the entire video thing at the reception, however, my BFF Little Miss-Drink-A-Lot came to the rescue. She helped me with the video, adding the music and converting it into a suitable format. And this was all completed on the wedding day itself. During the tea ceremony, she excused herself, and worked diligently at the hotel, outside our room.

The story does not end yet...

When we got to the reception, she found out the music from this video could not be played on the PA system. The DJ offered some substitute music. Little Miss-Drink-A-Lot said to me "Strawberry Fields" by the Beatles? I asked for something else. She asked for No Doubt, the DJ said nope. Oh gawd, finally they decided on "Here Comes The Sun", which is also by the Beatles. Obviously, the DJ was a Beatles fan. Thank gawddd it worked out well. I was very pleased with the video.

So here it is... but my version... and not the DJ's-who-happens-to-be-a-Beatles-fan.

These are the two songs I originally wanted, 'Underneath It All' by No Doubt (because I am a huge No Doubt fan, and not so much a huge Beatles fan), an acoustic version, and 'The Way I Am' by Ingrid Michaelson.