6 days

happy new year guys!! hope y'all had a good time no matter where you were and who you were celebrating with. just thought that i should write a proper post for now since i have the time. haha.

anyways, can you imagine, this time next wk i'm changing my status to married. am i nervous? no. excited? yes. sexcited? hell yeah. wahaha. of cos i'm probably having my period either during the wedding or during the honeymoon so, can't help things there. i am praying real hard that it'll come late, like after we get back from the honeymoon. haha. mind over matter!

my only concern is that i'll look like a fat cow actually. you would think that my own wedding would be enough motivation for me to lose some, but nooooo. i'm naturally blaming f, cos he won't let me take pills to help things along. otherwise i'd be looking like a supermodel by now :p

i'm also breaking out like crazy and i can't figure out WHY. it's driving me nuts! could put it down to stress i guess but wtf, i haven't had it this bad since australia! horrible timing siaaaa. since i don't have any suspects i can't friggin' do anything except to carry on like normal. gggrrr.

happy to announce that everything on my list below is done tho :) now all i need is lingerie. is it just me or are the sales this season not as good as in the past??

ok then shall go back to doing wedding stuff... btw my phone is spoilt, there's no sound. can't hear anything when people call, so as far as possible, sms me ok? may or may not get a new phone tomoro, see how...

have a good 2009! and see you at the wedding!

wedding list update 3

lose 10kg in 5 weeks. fuck it.
book inai person
order wedding cake and other goodies
buy my top sekrit (ok not so sekrit since i told rohana) guestbook related stuff
go for spa sessions
finalise honeymoon flight & accom

on top of that:
move our stuff to crib
find a bedframe/ divan

i'm TIRED. have been going out after work every single bloody day of the week for the past 2 weeks. aaaarrggghhhh!!

trepidation

so tomoro will be my first day at my new job. it kinda breaks my heart to think that i won't be reporting to pr.iso.ns. tomoro. :( my boss told me that he won't submit my resignation yet, and will gimme 3 wks to come back if i change my mind. haha. so nice rite? seems to be convinced that i will tho... hmm. does he know something i don't?

i should feel more enthusiastic but i don't... maybe cos i wasn't ready to leave yet. sigh. need a better mindset to go into this... more likely that i'm gonna be there for the next 3 years rather than 3 wks.

in other news, picked out baju for actual days and photoshoot. pretty happy with the selections but then ah, gonna need toned arms and back for the shoot. got a bustier gown and 2 halters. dang. if all else fails i'm just gonna bring along a shawl or fur stole or something. or hide behind f. haha. so if anyone knows where i can actually buy a fur stole or cape, hit me!

f's birthday is this sat and i'm running way behind on what i have planned. noooooo. life is what happens when u're busy planning...

and we're gonna be married exactly a month from tomoro. OMG. apparently i'm sharing this countdown with a lot of people. aeshon who's expecting her first child, and everyone whose thesis is due on 9 jan. haha. gonna be one heck of a january.

wedding list update 2

wedding to do list update:

lose 10kg in 5 weeks. a little help here, anyone? ok mebbe not 10, will be happy with 5 :(
finalise who s doing my inai
invite people to the wedding
figure out dulang deco
order wedding cake and other goodies
buy my top sekrit (ok not so sekrit since i told rohana) guestbook related stuff
go for spa sessions
finalise honeymoon flight & accom

on top of that:
decide on paint colour for crib
get someone to actually paint
move our stuff there
find a bedframe/ divan


inviting people is gonna take a while man.

wedding list update 1

wedding to do list update:

lose 10kg in 6 weeks. a little help here, anyone?
visit the deco peeps to pick the deco
visit mak andam to pick out baju
visit bridal studio to pick out locations and baju for photoshoot
finalise who s doing my inai
collect nikah gagra
invite people to the wedding
finalise berkat for kids
figure out dulang deco
order wedding cake and other goodies
buy my top sekrit (ok not so sekrit since i told rohana) guestbook related stuff
go for spa sessions
finalise honeymoon flight & accom

on top of that:
decide on paint colour for crib
get someone to actually paint
move our stuff there
find a bedframe/ divan


woohoo! i got SOME things done... expect invites to come yr way soon peeps!

can u hear the crickets?

so, thesis is done (wooooooohoooooooooooo!!!) and i can concentrate on the wedding. behold.

wedding to do list:

lose 10kg in 8 weeks. a little help here, anyone?
visit the deco peeps to pick the deco
visit mak andam to pick out baju
visit bridal studio to pick out locations and baju for photoshoot
finalise who s doing my inai
get kavi to bring me to serangoon to make the blouse for my nikah gagra
wait for invitation cards to get printed (yeah, still not ready. patience people, patience)
invite people to the wedding
finalise berkat for adults and kids
figure out dulang deco
order wedding cake and other goodies
buy more dulang stuff (his perfume, my shoes... and i'm sure there's more which i've forgotten about)
buy my top sekrit (ok not so sekrit since i told rohana) guestbook related stuff
go for trial bridal spa
decide which spa i'll end up using
finalise honeymoon destination

on top of that:
spring clean our new crib
decide on paint colour for crib
get someone to actually paint
move our stuff there
find a bedframe/ divan

and... start at my new job mid dec while keeping up the ruse that i'll be at my current new job for a good long while

due to the stress i'm gonna go back to my book and read for a good few more hours, even though i should be doing chores and cleaning the loo cos my aussie ex- housemate is coming over for a few days (yaaaaaaaay!)

ahem

ok ah lots of things to update on, so point form it is. first and foremost
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we bought a flat y'all! yeah, probably a little early considering we're only getting married in about 8 months (meaning i should've started my fitness plan a month ago) but it was a really good deal and we loved it so we just went for it. the moment we signed the exercise option i suddenly felt my age. u know, kinda old and grown up. haha. it's probably the most responsible thing we have done, ever. was all nervous and stressed out the entire day thinking about the financing and how we have no choice but to be successful/ make a lot of money in our careers if we are hoping to survive in sg. but hey, we have a crib yo! also, i wouldn't recommend reading the h.db. site for more info cos you'll just get paranoid and confused like i did and trigger a major unnecessary headache. just leave it to the agent, but ask lots of questions and double check with h.db. if in doubt. they need to earn that damned 3% commission. i'd post details but i'll only breathe easy once the keys are in my hands. haha. which will be another 6 months, give or take, seeing how h.db. likes to make it a really drawn out process. will keep you guys updated with tales from the crib as and when i get them. haha.

in other not so exciting news, i have an exam next week and i'm going to kl over the vesak day weekend. smart right? the ethics proposal for my thesis also just got approved so i have 4 months to write my 10 000 words. using a very scientific method, i broke it down to 500 words every 3 days starting from right about now. really fun times man. so, please wake me up only when september ends.

speaking of which, time flies. this time last year i was planning EU07. now, i'm engaged and just bought a flat. how things change eh.

also,i really admire people who can express themselves and be all emotional without feeling any embarrassment. be it while talking, blogging, or whichever other way they choose to do it. i always get choked up and keep it to myself seeing how i'm not the mushy nor complimentary type. hmm.

t.m.t.h.

that's too much to handle for the uninitiated. haha.

so, uni started again in early march and i've done one presentation so far, with one more to go. both are worth 30%. like wtf rite? since when so much? my ea.tin.g di.sord.ers mod has no exams. woohoo! but there's a 50% assignment which is due on the same day as my presentation for that mod. my res.ear.ch me.tho.ds mod is pretty ok, no stats, just methods. thank god. there's an assignment due in a couple of wks which i haven't started on. why? besides being a procrastinator i actually have to do my th.esi.s pr.opo.sal, which is going nowhere at the moment. die ah die. need to give a brief outline today and hand in proposal by wed otherwise we won't make it for the april et.hic.s com.mit.tee. if we don't make it then we'll be completely screwed cos there's only 5 months left till the thesis is due in which time we need to find participants, collect data, analyse and write a 10 000 word document. good times.

in light of the lack of time that i have for everything, what did i do yest? that's right, slack off. today i won't have as much time as yest cos i'm going to my aunt's mau.lud and will probably need to stay there for the better part of the day cos she did help out loads at the engagement. can't help it ah, will definitely have to make a quick exit sooner rather than later.

in other news, got my bonus this mth y'all. variable + performance bonus = more moolah in my bank. wahaha. i'm a happy camper. when my super told me my banding which entitled me to the perf bonus i was like, ok thanks. she went on about how i was doing a pretty good job and how the next year the banding will be split further and not as many people will get the bonus. i went and said, in all honestly, if it was split this year i doubt i'll get the bonus. she was like, ok why do u say that? then i'm like, well i don't think i'm performing as well as i should. now which person in their right mind would say that to their super eh? i am, of cos, not in my right mind, since i don't intend to stay very long. that is, if i manage to find another job.

anyways, in minah khawin2 news, we booked our photog/vid for the actual days. freaking hell, damn ex lor, even though it was the cheapest package we could find. we blame our parents (read: mums) for drawing it out into a 3 day affair, which would naturally jack up prices for services such as the aforementioned as well as mak andam and food. food i don't quite care ah, cos parents paying for it. but the rest... ouch man. there goes my exotic honeymoon. happily enough i have decided on a theme for his dulangs- greek is the word. so exciting! i almost have full artistic control over the wedding, subject to mum's willingness to layan me. wahaha.

part quartre- :D :D :D :D :D

well obviously i was pretty darn excited about getting engaged. haha. things started out the day before the engagement, which happened to be my dad's and uncle's birthdays too. so lots of aunties and cousins came over to pour blood, sweat and tears into the preps. my dadi and nani manned the fort in the afternoon while the rest of us were running around singapore picking up flowers, food, cakes and brownies.

there was a torrential downpour at the time, and i got stuck in it on my way home from work. fool that i am, i left the shoe sole-ing to the last minute and had to wait around while it was getting done, in which time i consumed a double cheeseburger cos i was so damned hungry. yes yes, completely ignored the fact that i was supposed to look stunning the day after. tried on the baju and it fit mah, so what's the problem? got corset anyway. haha.

so yeah, got home just to go out again to the flower shop. damn pretty! damn cold also. was turning blue in the cold rooms sia. literally. even my glasses were fogging up! managed to get the flowers that would later make up the veritable garden that was his dulangs. very very pretty, i liiiiiiike. then went home and started prepping, while bro and parents went to get other stuff.

the night passed pretty fast, managed to get most things done with the help from the troops and minions. haha. that didn't stop my from sleeping late though. 2am! so much for beauty sleep. also squeezed in a short chat with the bf to get an update on his end. they were done by 11pm lor! unfair...

next morning, i stuffed myself cos i knew i was only gonna be able to have bite sized food for the rest of the day. so unbecoming of a future tunang hor? should have been starving myself but no... this is why i will probably never be anorexic. haha. was drinking loads of water too cos there was no way i'd be able to get out of the corset and outfit to pee once i was in them. this is called planning ahead.

mak andam came at around 12.30 (apparently it takes a good 2-3hrs to get ready) to get me all dolled up. i tell you ah, looking good hurts like a biatch! the fake eyelashes (which i completely loved) made my eyes a little watery, which was a good thing actually cos i was wearing contacts and they have a habit of getting dry. the hair was a complete nightmare. even after all the teasing and volumising, my hair was still too thin and short to make the side part fringe that i wanted! adakah patut? so she did a little scroll thingy circa 1950s and clipped on the hair extensions. looked pretty good in the end, thank goodness. felt i looked a bit like a drag queen at first, but after a while it grew on me. it helped that most people said i looked like a living mannequin so that boosted the ego a bit. :P apparently i was the first person to use those particular extensions and her mum had gotten the veil especially for me too. so nice right? preferential treatment cos they're neighbours at my mum's shop. hehe.

i moved over to my mum's room where all the goodies were so we could take pictures and stuff after the mak andam deemed me to be ready. smiling is tiring. haha. my mum was like, don't laugh too much, your make up will crack! cos i was all giggly and 'vibrating' when i was in the room. excited mah... cannot meh? got a little nervous when his side came and was taking lots of deep breaths so i wouldn't break into fits of giggles again. couldn't exactly hear what was going on outside, so i was happily in my own world and my cousins were in the room too, so they were playing the fool, as usual.

after a not so long period of time, his mum came in with the ring followed by a pretty huge posse. think about 50-60 people came from his side. was concentrating on his mum and the ring, then his parents, and taking photos with them. so i didn't really look up until a few minutes later and omg!! felt like a celebrity sia. wahaha. so many people and cameras and they were all directed at moi. a bit scary ah, i was like, damn y'all. but managed to keep it cool and just keep smiling... his family was all pretty excited and keen to take photos so that was good. according to my dad even the guys were lining up outside and were asking the ladies inside to hurry up. wahaha. so funny. he was like, that's the first time i've seen men who are more gam chiong than the women when it comes to taking photos.

it was pretty quiet after the dulang exchange went down and his side went to makan. had relatives and friends around, even managed to recount on the proposal with the girls. well, some of it anyway. haha. i couldn't change out of the costume though, cos needed to do 'studio' shots and take photos with him when he came at night. it was pretty tiring, cos the bouquet i had was sooo heavy. 30 roses, don't play play. my old neighbour made it for me, it was gorgeous. it looked so... extravagant? dunno if it's the right word to describe it but, u know. of course there were the mandatory ring shots as well. haha. took a while to get the macro right but i think we managed in the end. :) had lots of couple shots but the ones that will go into the album for circulation among family will be G rated. wahaha. the PG ones only for us and close friends. lol.

that, my friends, pretty much wraps up the engagement. it was all excitement and food, basically. wahaha. if you were expecting me to get all emo... then obviously you don't know me that well, do you?

p.s. photos at the usual link... look to the right hand bar hor.

part trois- my goodies

if you're wondering what the goodies were... wonder no more! shall lift the veil of mystery that was shrouding the engagement... well ok, not much of a mystery to those in the know, but those who dunno or weren't expecting it so soon, here we go.

we actually went shopping for the ring waaay back then during the sales... i can't remember which sale period but it was before the xmas sales, sometime in the 4th quarter of the year. think in one of the much earlier posts i wrote, i said something about my ability to walk into a sale and come out with something at nett price. guess what? ahahah. yeah ok, there wasn't a discount on the ring but it was a really good low price. went to compare at other places and i just couldn't get the same quality for the same amount. brought the bf- oops, i mean fiance- to the store and walked out with a not one, not two, not three, but five stone ring. score! it's super brilliant cos of the cutting (hearts and arrows) so i was pretty gleeful about it. haha. didn't want a solitaire cos i think it's too typical. was going for a trilogy but the 5 stone looked a lot better on my fat finger.

then on 31 dec (i remember the date cos it was new year mah) we went to get his watch. this one got bargain one, managed a good price. haha. we were going in and out a couple of times, pretend to discuss and all... it's a seiko sportura kinetic chronograph watch. saw it a couple of days ago at one of the dept stores here and omfg! the price was like 550 bucks more than what i paid for his sia! this is why we should support small and medium businesses. shop local, people.

other goodies came in the form of food. gastronomical delights for him included a big ass cake, cupcakes, chocs, fruits, more cakes and curry puffs. go check out the pics! he gave me quite a lot more dulangs than i gave him tho. lol. think it was 14 vs 21 or something. :s i can't exactly remember who has given what but here's my list of thank yous. if i left you out sorry hor! lemme know and i'll edit. wahaha.

double heart cake- mooch & shereen

cupcakes- zuraidah

chicken pies- huda

perfume- yaya, candida, yasmine, aishah, fiza
profiteroles- kak yani (sis in law)
bunga rampai- dadi
eclairs- auntie no
walnut cake- no idea who, but it's yummy
cupcakes n earrings- kavi & sang
necklace n cute bear bride & groom- rohana & taibah
bouquet (30 white roses! damn heavy sia)- cik idah
pralines- buyin
cube cake- mama
bread basket with curry puffs- mama
brownies- mama
baju kurung, songkok, songket, sejadah- mama
pretty much everything else- mama & ayah
moolah- you know who you are!

well, i did pay for the mak andam and half my outfit! haha. naturally all proceeds from the engagement went to my mum. expensive business man.

ooh forgot to add in another blooper. his sis and zuraidah both ordered cupcakes from the same place, and apparently the orders got switched. so zuraidah ended up getting the cupcakes his sis ordered and vice versa. she was panicking and was like, shit naz, the cupcakes are purple! ahaha. the ones that we picked out were pink and purple and had only my name and his name on. pretty! the purple and white ones were pretty too, and they said 'selamat bertunang'. u know what the stupid thing is though? don't think i got solo pics of the cupcakes lor!! argh! this is what happens when i ask ari to be the unofficial photog. sighs. note to self- never again.

part deux- bloopers

first in the series cos they're easy to remember and funny as hell.

my uncle in attempting to do his good deed for the day, made a faux pas instead. he saw kavi parking in the handicapped lot downstairs, so he assumed she was just visiting for a while. after some time, some people started to pester him to let her know that she mite get fined if she doesn't move her car to the multi-storey carpark. so of course he went upstairs looking for her. he was like, eh, the car downstairs is yours right? maybe u should move it to the multi-storey carpark in case they saman u. kavi's like... uh it's ok i have a handicapped sticker. uncle: oh... ok then. after which he promptly went downstairs and started noisily blaming everyone for not seeing the sticker on the windshield.

in another incident, my dadi, parents and a few aunts and uncles saw some people walking around the block looking lost and carrying dulangs. they assumed that it was his side and they didn't know how to get to our place, so they enthusiastically waved them over and greeted them. only to find out that there was in fact another engagement going on and they were looking for the guy's side. in a different block. apparently my dad had even salam-ed some of the guys already. lol.

so, zub was my photog and buyin was the artistic director. we were taking pics and stuff before faisal's side came, so all his gifts were on the bed beside me. there was this one particular dulang with a basket made of bread and filled with curry puffs. it was quite tall and had a slim arching handle and all. very pretty! this basket was kinda in the way so zub attempted to move it without knowing that it was made of real bread. u know what happened lah. handle broke! buyin and i were the only witnesses cos everyone else in the room had their eyes on me (naturally. wahaha). zub froze and i was like, OMFG!! my little cousin hajar happened to be in the room at the time so she became the scapegoat for a bit... when in actual fact she was busy at the other end of the bed doing some other damage to my ladybugs on another dulang. wahaha. terror sey.

chaos ensued, with makciks panicking and attempting to fix the basket with tape. it looked attached, but just that it was broken and any movement will make the piece fall off lah. sticking attempts by a few kecoh people proved to be futile, so i was like, u know wat, forget it, it still looks whole, and will probably crumble if we keep touching. we can stick it later if it completely falls off when his side carries it. everyone was like, oh ok... and there was peace once again in the shire.

of course, i had a bridezilla moment. would u expect any less? wahaha. so right, i was sitting in the room and waiting for the engagement to get underway, when i felt a breeze near my ear. my veil wasn't secured properly and one side was lopsided. i was like, help help, someone fix my veil. i couldn't move to look at the mirror behind me cos i couldn't stand and i would probably make the veil worse. no one helped me lor! i ended up demanding for my mum (cos she knows how to fix these things) and throwing a bit of a hissy fit. lol. of cos she came to the rescue. eventually. candida and yaya and all were like... oh oh she's getting pissed off and whiny...

last but not least, faisal, his bros and his cousin came over at nite. the plan was to take couple shots and stuff. in all the excitement, guess what? forgot to take pics with his bros and cousin lor!!! i was like, argh!! so stupid rite? best part is they were sitting outside the entire time we were taking photos inside. wahlau eh. our shoot was quite long sommore. i don't know how it slipped our minds that we hadn't taken with them. sighs. felt so bad about it sey.

that's the end of the engagement bloopers series. next series akan datang!

prelude to project 090109 part une

i'd love to try and get away with saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' but i owe some people a proper entry. wahaha. i'll try to be semi coherent as i recount the day's moments, but no promises. :P stay tuned ok, still working on it. really.

easy come easy go

according to victoria's secret, my favourite bras are on sale. alas, i am but a pauper until jan 09. haha. actually, i'm starting to believe the, uh, belief, that good things happen when u're gonna get married. i just got an increment y'all! alhamdulillah. ok it's not much but i'm still grateful for it cos it will allow me to save 100 bucks more each month. adds up, that's 1.2k over a year! i got a little bitter when comparing to others who got the increment too but hey, everyone's rezeki is different eh. just glad that it's before the march bonus. woohoo! hopefully the bonus will be pretty substantial. keeping fingers crossed.

in other munny matters, just dropped about 1.5k in deposits on wedding related stuff. yeah, i know, tell be about it. i didn't intend to spend as much as i am on deco alone but it seems that everyone was happy with my choice and didn't even wanna consider the other ones that i thought were pretty. chosen one= gorgeous, glamourous and classy. other options= simple, pretty, clean. personally i really wouldn't have minded the other options... but oh well. as rohana said, she wouldn't have expected anything less, and i do have a reputation. haha. naturally i'm gonna try to convince the bf to go for the pretty and clean one. :p also settled my mak andam and studio/ outdoor shoot stuff. things are coming along pretty nicely i would say. next headache- photog and vid for actual days which won't burn another hole in my(our) raggedy pocket(s).

the reason i could get the chosen one and not 'settle' for the others is because of people. my mum initially wanted to top up the amount that was over budget but i insisted on not taking. couple of days after that, my bro said he would sponsor 1k for the wedding. thanks bro! woo freakin' hoo! ape lagi, went for the deco lor... could've put it to other use but like i said, i wasn't the only one who was keen on it. also, we also kinda knew the deco people and got a massive discount and extras. yay. :D if none of this had occurred, i wouldn't have been able to get the chosen one. i wouldn't have minded either way but it seems that everyone wanted me to take it. it also made me realise that your wedding isn't just about you, its about family and friends too. have to be able to keep yourself and the majority happy and it's no easy feat. this is when you also realise how generous people can be and how lucky you are. got quite a bit of sponsorship for the wedding and quite a lot for the engagement. to those who contributed, a huge THANK YOU in advance for sharing in these occasions... without you, they probably wouldn't be half as great.

ok lah time to zzz ready. supposed to be working on my ethics essay and studying for my exams but no... got an ulcer and a tembil aaaaaah!! so irritating. haven't had one in ages. looked up the english equivalent (which is 'stye' btw. thanks rohana!) and to cut a long story short, it happens when you dig your nose and then rub yr eyes. eeeeeeee. gross sia. infected gland or something. oh well. hoping it'll go away by the time the engagement comes around.

this sounds like a minah kawin2 post. noooooooooo.