House hunt begins

We met up with Daniel & Ivy for dinner at their house tonight. We've decided on a timeframe and we'll probably start house-viewing next week.

Edmund's in-charge of the housing bit and I'm happily leaving it in his hands and most importantly, in His hands.

Phone call

I got the phone call I was waiting for all month to receive. I start my new job on 16 Feb.

I'm awfully grateful to God.
I'm really grateful for Boon Yeow & Faith.

Oct 08: At Island Creamery. (Faith & Yeow, we must take a better photo the next time!)

Getting married means a lot of changes for me. On top of the change of status, home and lifestyle, I also have to change church and job.

To space out the many changes, the 1st to change was the job. Humanly not a good time to be changing job, but with God in control, it was a matter of leaving things to Him.

He positioned people ahead of me. First, it was wonderful friends like Boon Yeow & Faith. Second, it was the big boss and assistant big boss that are both christians.

What a treat to be able to have some contact with ex-church friends at my new workplace especially when I leave after getting married.

In bimbotic and irreverent but affectionate fashion: I wish I could give Him a big thank-you hug! He's the best!

2nd day of CNY

No... we didn't walk round the fountain with our hands touching the water for wealth...

Last year

This is my last year receiving red packets. Next year's payback time (as highlighted by quite a few people).

I've always heard about newly weds who are exempted from giving out red packets the 1st year they get married, but honestly, no one practices that in my family. I kinda think that's an excuse made up by somebody many years ago!

Anyway, I've been giving red packets to my parents, grandparents and siblings since I started working!

Cousin Cynthia and I keeping up our traditional 1st day of CNY photo together.

Every year, the Chua family takes a group shot of whoever's around. (There's always a few missing people though...) This year, we took our family photo at Uncle Bic's very happening and funky designer's bachelor's pad.

Reunion Dinner

On the eve of the 1st day of every lunar new year, my immediate family and I will go to 2 reunion dinners. This year, we started off with dinner at 5pm with the Chua family before joining the Tan family at Faber.

This year, Edmund joined us for both reunion dinners. His family's reunion dinner is always the weekend before the actual reunion night. I'm thankful cos I can't imagine trying to go to 3 reunion dinners in 1 night.

Poor Edmund was trying hard to remember the names of my relatives and making the connections of who is related to who in what way. We're talking about 30+ people on each side.

This year it was nice to have Matthias join us as well now that Cynthia is married!

A photo with Dan who's in K2. I think he's really cute! He's the youngest son of my cousin who is 10 years my senior!

Pretty

Stumbled on something pretty on a friend's Facebook profile...

Photo fun with Kay

I got up at 5am, picked Kay up at 6am and we were at Henderson Waves by 6.30am. The weather was great!

Thanks Kay for waking up sooooo early for our photo fun and for the really yummy scrambled eggs after! :) I enjoyed myself tremendously!

One of my favourite shots (with no Photoshop) where you can see my unconventional engagement ring.

Here's the link to Kay's Flickr set since Blogger isn't allowing me to add anymore photos! Be warned that they are all photos of my face! ;p

To remove or not

Many years ago at a night game station at youth camp...

Station Master: We're going to have a body scavenger hunt. From within your group members, I want you guys to show me 20 moles.

Sue Ern: Everyone, no need to find! I have all 20 and extra to spare for other teams!

I've lasered off about 30 to 40 moles but I still have plenty to spare with new ones popping up here and there every year. I inherited the wealth of moles from Dad! ;p

I have lasered-off the bigger moles on my face (I call them ex-moles) but 2 of them have become more obvious and protruding over the years. As my wedding approaches, I have been more tempted to do something about them... especially when people ask me what those 2 things at the side of my face are.

I finally decided to go to the National Skin Centre for a consultation. Senior Consultant Dr Chua gave me the option of:-

a) cutting out the ex-moles and then stitching the cut which would leave a line scar longer than the mole - $350 per mole

b) lasering off the ex-moles to flatten them. However this is only temporal cos the ex-moles will "rise" again - $200

Of his several suggestions, these are the 2 I'm considering:-

1) leaving the ex-moles as they are

2) trying the cut procedure with 1 mole first and see how I find it

Considering the money and time involved, I'm currently drawn to option (1).

Can you see my ex-moles?

Scoring points

Trial Photo Fun

with Kay... poor girl had to arrange my dress, my hair, my position and shift all the nonsense around my room singlehandedly.

The main purpose was actually to see what I had in my wardrobe! Hmm... this dress makes me look quite slim! :)

Shopping

Aim: to find appropriate shoes to wear for photoshoot and on actual wedding day

Result: bought a diamondte necklace at 50% off

WHEN I HAVEN'T EVEN BEGUN THE DESIGN PROCESS WITH THE GOWN DESIGNER YET!

Talk about jumping the gun!

Consolation: the necklace cost me less than $40 and Carol asked if she could borrow it when she gets married! ;p

Wedding 2

Couple:
Barbra & Peter
(Barbra and I met in Tung Ling in 2001 and we became part of a 'family' when we went on mission trip to Sarawak!)

Interesting facts I found out at the wedding:
- Groom told Bride & jie-mei's not to 'tekan' him during the 'nao men'. If they did, they wouldn't get much money. If they didn't 'tekan' him, they would get more money. It actually worked!!! I called it a threat. Groom called it 'negotiation'.

Venue:
CEFC Woodlands

First time:
- seeing a bride wear black strappy wooden base/platform shoes with her white gown
- really enjoying the 3-piece jazz band from Luther Music at the reception area.
- being emcee at a wedding (everyone was impressed with Edmund's mandarin!)
- enjoying the Hokkien translation of the exhortation. It wasn't funny in English but it was hilarious in Hokkien. Made me want to have Hokkien translation at my wedding just for laughs!

Discussion points:
- Should I take photos with everyone who comes for the church wedding?
This wedding saw about 26 groups of people lined up to take photos with the couple. We took a really long time! Group shots hardly look very nice cos of the number of people and the lack of time for proper arrangement. The lack of spontaniety also makes it kinda dull.

See post on Wedding 1 here.

Again

Was talking to Faith on MSN and she said-

"reading your blog makes me feel like wanting to get married to Yeow all over again..."

This isn't the first time I've heard a married female friend say that.

Is it the wish to do things slightly differently for the wedding, to make better decisions the 2nd time round now on hindsight, or to relive the enjoyable (if so) wedding prep process all over again?

I don't think the guys would want to do it all over again though! ;p

Efficient man

Edmund
- bought his shoes on Sunday
- made his suit today
- confirmed our custom-made wedding bands at the amount he budgeted MONTHS ago (before we even started checking out the stores. It was under-budgeted I tell you!)

God is good.

And once again, I'm amazed at Edmund's bargaining/hunting skills. Time and time again I tell him it's impossible to get his specs/shoes/rings at XXX amount, but he's been proving me wrong!


So I'm happily leaving the house-hunting to him. I'm absolutely not worried about where we'd stay or when we'd find a house. God will provide in His perfect timing. I've seen Him providing for Edmund time and time again!

2 weddings in September

for the Tan Family just 9 days apart.


Just got an e-mail from cousin Stella tonight!

Friend from TLBC

In 2001, I met Barbra at TLBC. We ended up in the team that went upstream during the Sarawak mission trip at the end of our 3 month course and became "family" there.

There are 5 of us in the "family". There's:
1. 'Lao Diare' - 'old father'
2. 'Hiah Hiah' - 'elder brother'
3. 'Da Jie' - 'big sister'
4. 'Er Jie' - '2nd sister' (me)
5. 'Xiao Mei' - 'youngest sister' (Barbra).

In the mission field, 5 of us slept on the floor in the same room for about 7 days. We realised that we had 1 key thing in common that allowed us to live in harmony. All 5 of us are messy people. Our room was so messy but we were not bothered by it at all!

Barbra is getting married this Saturday and she's gotten Edmund and I to be her emcees. We met them tonight to discuss the program for this Saturday's church wedding ceremony.

It's a small world in Singapore. Even before I knew Barbra, before Barbra knew Peter, before I knew Edmund, Edmund knew both Barbra and Peter!

Barbra is moving from CEFC to FCBC after marriage, and I am moving from LSBC to CEFC after marriage. SIGH!

Peter, Barbra, Edmund and I at 'Hiah Hiah's' house - Nov 08

Suit

Edmund needs to get his done before we can do our pre-wedding photo-shoot!


Style For Men:How To Choose A Suit

Bride-talk

Taking on from a blog entry put in by Pearlyn, I'm grateful for the opportunity to talk more to Kara and Pearlyn these days. Those 2 beautiful, stylish girls are way younger than I so we don't really move in the same circles at church.

It's fun to talk about wedding photography, bridal gown/shoes, rings with them. With other friends, I try not to get too carried away talking about wedding prep stuff, but with them, I don't have to 'watch' myself! Ha!

One of the most fun things about wedding prep is to be able to talk and catch-up with other girls preparing for their weddings as well!

Groom's shoes

Last night, we did up our wedding to-do list and put a date next to each to-do item. Quite scary...

Edmund needs to get his suit done and his shoes bought by end of this month. Here's what Edmund commented next to the column "Groom's shoes" -

Those I like, Sue Ern thinks ah peh. Those I think ah peh, Sue Ern likes =(


This doesn't happen just for shoes. It happens for shirts, pants, ties, socks, etc... you get the picture! Sometimes I get a bit worried when Edmund says I look good in a particular top/dress... cos... does it mean it looks ah ma?!?! ;p

Cute ah peh and I at Henderson Waves - 1 Oct 08

Mainly about hair

I've had (boring) rebonded hair for YEARS but I STILL like my hair rebonded. It's so easy to maintain. I never have a bad-hair day except when the rebonding effect is wearing out.

For the last 2 months, my hair has been yucky cos it's been 15 months since my last rebonding. I've been holding it off because I wasn't sure when we were going to take the pre-wedding photos and wondered whether rebonding my hair would make any difference.

So much for all that wondering and procrastination! I should have just rebonded my hair in Nov08. ANYWAY, I went to rebond my hair today and I'll now have to endure the Cleopatra curtain-hair effect that I dislike so much. My rebonded hair only looks good from month 2 to about month 13.

Sorry, Kay! You've got my freshly rebonded hair to deal with when you come back soon for our photo-fun!

Not only did I get my hair rebonded today, I went to see the dentist, went to finalise our wedding band designs and put dates to our to-do list.

An off-day well-spent.

A book for wives

Our marriage counsellors recommend this book to all ladies getting married. I've only finished 3 chapters, but I think ALL ladies getting married (and those already married) should read this book!!!

God, please help me to remember and put into practice everything I've read!

I'm too lazy to write a review based on 3 chapters. Read the Amazon reviews here.

Mixed feelings

I say goodbye to 2008 with VERY mixed feelings.

It's great to spend 31 Dec at LSBC every year for as long as I can remember.
Nothing beats worshipping the Lord at the end & start of every year together with a thousand people as a family of God.

As we worshipped, I cried. As much as I was touched by God's love and faithfulness, I was also very aware how much I'd miss all this.

I was horribly sad that this was probably my last watchnight service in LSBC.
I wiped away my tears with my hands just in time for the countdown, but ended up having to take out my tissue paper when Ivy hugged me.
Uncle KK & Auntie Tiak nearly made me cry too!

While I'm looking forward to getting married this year, the thought of leaving friends and a place I've grown up with is terribly sad.

What Auntie Tiak said to me tonight is so true. God calls us each to different journeys of faith. God will help me. He better help me! ;p (I know He will!)

No longer next year

After watchnight service, someone (memory lapse) came up to Pearlyn and I to say 'you 2 are getting married this year, right?' and it took me awhile to register that I'm getting married this year and not next. I've been too used to telling people that I'm getting married next year.

I think it'll take awhile more to register that my wedding is this year and in about 8.5 months time. At the rate things are going, I'm quite sure we're going to have a mad scramble near the wedding date! :)