Edmund and Sue

Blog-silence

2011-11-03T14:03:00.004+08:00

It's like I almost forgot this blog existed until a church friend commented that she stumbled on this blog while trying to search about The Canopy at Bishan Park!

A "bomb" exploded at work in Mar 2011. I can't go into details, but let's just say I was the one most suited in the office to pick up the pieces and try to restore things back to order. Multiply the complicated job with the evasive, dishonest "bomber" that was still in office all the way till July, I was left with little appetite for food, sleepless nights, and found myself on an involuntary weight-loss program.

By Sep 2011, things were 90% cleaned and I'm back to putting on weight again! Yay for things that are now clean, but no yay for the weight-gain.

Kyushu

2011-06-30T13:55:00.000+08:00

Every year, we go on a holiday with my family. We had originally planned to self-drive around Tohoku, but because of the tsunami, we changed plans and went to Kyushu instead.

Steph's wedding

2011-06-25T13:50:00.001+08:00

We went taken care of by the same baby-sitter when we were in kindy.

We played many imaginary games as kids whenever we met at our grandparents' place at Jurong West.

They are why I look forward to extended family gatherings!

I'm blessed with great cousins!

February's dessert

2011-02-26T22:46:00.005+08:00

I didn't manage to cook a meal in February because the weekends were so packed. However, I did succeed at cooking Pulut Hitam twice!

It's a no-brainer dish, but at least I cooked something. Better than nothing la!

Belated V-day Dinner

2011-02-22T22:22:00.009+08:00

Edmund is a lot more romantic than me. I don't fancy flowers and I dislike eating at poorly-lit restaurants.

Ever since Grace brought me to Osia for my birthday dinner treat last year, I've been wanting to go back again. Edmund was game for it so we went to Osia using V-day as an excuse for an occasion.

While I thoroughly enjoyed my set dinner selection of foie gras, beef and chocolate soup, Edmund found a local-hawker dish description for what he tasted in each item in his set. Let’s just say he enjoyed the touristy feel of RWS a lot more!

It was a nice quiet night out. We like.

What I love about CNY

2011-02-03T17:21:00.002+08:00

To me, CNY is all about family. I look forward to meeting up with cousins, aunties and uncles!

Going to miss Steph at future CNY gatherings!

I'm super blessed to have wonderful extended families that make CNY something I look forward to.

Edmund is still trying to get used to having to make 7 different stops on the 1st day of CNY. It's 6 more stops than before he married me.

Animal Toys

2011-02-02T16:45:00.000+08:00

I love collecting small stuffed toys. But because of my sinus, most of my animal toys are tied up in a huge plastic bag at my mum’s place.

Over at our place, we only have 2 animal stuffed toys. Here’s a little introduction of the 2:

Gucci, the Rat

This is Gucci (pronounced as ‘ku-chee’). Gucci is a rat. Gucci was a Christmas gift from Cynthia in 2009. Gucci’s tail is a powerful tickling tool that Sue Ern uses to disturb Edmund with.

Edmund tortures Gucci by putting him in the wash once a month. Thanks to the horrendous wash cycle Gucci gets thrown into with the bedsheets, Gucci’s neck has become floppy much to Sue Ern’s dismay.

Spunky, the Rabbit
Since this is the year of the Rabbit, Spunky made a guest appearance in the living room during Chinese New Year.

Spunky was Sue Ern’s first present to Edmund on Good Friday in 2007. Spunky was named after Edmund’s old pet rabbit, Punky.

Edmund also threw poor Spunky into the Feb wash cycle so that it would be presentable for Chinese New Year.

Cooking

2011-01-29T21:32:00.000+08:00

Cooking is unfortunately not my forte. I tell everyone that I wash dishes better than I cook.

I have a few resolutions made for 2011. One of them is to cook simple dishes once a month for starters.

January's attempt was edible... Edmund was most encouraging by finishing everything up!

Ear-holes

2011-01-23T22:15:00.000+08:00

One of my resolutions for 2011 is to get my ears pierced. The last time I pierced my ears was when I was 4 years-old.

Back then, my ears got badly infected and dad had to use 2 pairs of pliers to remove my earrings. I was told I screamed the whole apartment block down and traumatised my dad for life through the earring-removal process.

One week before I got married, I was still hunting high and low for clip-on earrings, which are terribly hard to find!

This ear-piercing resolution of mine hasn't any significance. I just decided I would get it done once and for all!

I kinda regret it because of the pain and care involved, but since I've done it, let's try to keep the holes open!

Edmund has been very sweet to help me clean my ears with hydrogen peroxide at night.

Daiso

2011-01-22T16:25:00.000+08:00

Edmund and I always enjoy our visits to Daiso. There are so many pretty, cute, interesting, clever things to buy there. And because everything is only $2, you're willing to buy it for fun, or just to try it out!

After a lovely meal with Seb & Steph at Pete's Place at Hyatt Hotel, and an unfruitful query made at JTB, we happily walked into Daiso at Ion Orchard.

Some bo liao things I ended up with:

* Japanese 4-stones (child-hood game)

I always envied a primary school friend who came to school with 4 stones bought from Japan. They were so pretty (although I found it too fat for the game compared to my smaller stones).

Anyway, I fulfilled my childhood wish of getting myself a set of pretty 4 stones whose design probably originated from Japan but was now made in China.

I came home and started playing with my pretty stones immediately. After 2 decades, I’d forgotten quite a few levels!

* a rolling pin for my feet (physiotherapist's recommendation)

I’ve been having plantar fasciitis where my left heel hurts especially when I’m barefooted. I went to see a physiotherapist and he recommended that I roll my feet on something cylindrical.

I went to the baking section in Daiso looking high and low for some rolling pins and found 1 rolling pin sticking out from a pile of non-rolling pin stuff. It was just the buy-me sign I needed. It was meant just for me! Haha!

Spruce

2011-01-08T17:38:00.006+08:00

Sometime in 2010, we borrowed the electric steamboat pot we bought for Matthias and Cynthia for a sukiyaki party we were having. This was even before they had their own "opening ceremony" of the pot! *paiseh*

Edmund and I were having breakfast at MacDonalds while Matt & Thia were on the way somewhere. They brought the pot to us at MacDonalds and we caught up for a good 30mins in MacDonald's standing around the table we were at.

I thought it would be nice for us to catch up properly over a meal seated down! We finally did at a really nice place recommended by Matthias!

Dinner at MELT

2010-12-28T22:52:00.003+08:00

Dad & Mum had dining vouchers that were expiring on 31 Dec 2010. They offered it to us and we decided to use it.

I made a reservation on the day itself and was surprised to be told that I could only get a table for 2 at 8pm on a Tuesday night!

We arrived early and decided to just try for an earlier sitting. The main buffet area was packed, but we were able to sit outside by the mini garden. It was lovely cos it was a cool night and hardly anyone wanted to sit outside. (Honestly, the indoor buffet sitting area was soooo noisy!)

I generally just attacked the sashimi, prawns and belgium waffles. There were tons of other stuff, but I had to be very selective for my not-made-for-buffet tummy! It was nice to slowly have dinner from 7.30pm to 10pm!

On the way out, we found out that the buffet was $68++ per pax! Singaporeans really DO love buffets!

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T15:37:00.001+08:00

We usually have Christmas day lunch as a family. This year, we decided to try a new dim sum place instead of our regular Crystal Jade Palace.

Qiang made a booking at Taste Paradise at Ion and it definitely lived up to the good reviews we've heard/read. Special mention must be given to the 'char siew soh'. If Qiang, the 'char siew soh' connoisseur, says it is good, IT IS GOOD!

Almost everything we ordered was nice. Pity we didn't have room for dessert!

Super early Christmas party

2010-12-09T23:31:00.001+08:00

Our 1st Christmas party of the year was held on 9 Dec! It forced me to start on my Christmas presents early which helped lessen the stress near Christmas.

The whole party actually came together in 4 days and we packed the house at the Pinnacle! This is what happens when you have a very friendly CG! :)

Cinderel-lah!

2010-12-07T23:22:00.000+08:00

I love going for musicals and I had not seen 1 in Singapore all year!

Gurmit Singh was hilarious! Emma Yong and Sebastian Tan's singing was superb!

I was hoping it would be like the last Dim Sum Dollies show I watched and thoroughly enjoyed. However, Cinderel-lah! was more family-friendly and catered for children. Edmund enjoyed it tons! ;p

Hong Kong 2010

2010-12-01T11:31:00.000+08:00

Edmund loves Hong Kong. If there was no Singapore and he could choose, he would like to live in Hong Kong. It was a real treat for him to be able to join the family in Hong Kong at the last minute. You should have seen how happy he was when he found out he could actually go!

The weather was lovely in Hong Kong although the skies were always hazy. We spent most of the trip meeting up with family friends. Edmund's only request was that we go to Ocean Park and so we did.

At Ocean Park

The trip was too short and we ate ourselves silly as usual.

Kowloon, Hong Kong

2010-11-24T14:00:00.002+08:00

Ever since Edmund found out that he could now join the family in Hong Kong, he has been singing refrains from this old song...

It's so terribly catchy, I find myself humming the refrain in my head every now and then!

Oriental Night

2010-10-17T23:38:00.004+08:00

Event: LSBC’s staff family night

Venue: Quality Hotel

Theme: Oriental

It was sort of a mini dinner and dance, and it was the most fun one I’ve ever attended! Everyone was participative and that made it most enjoyable! The program was so well-planned, the night flew by without a boring moment!

Edmund’s “calligraphy” shirt from Malacca came in handy again! It even won him the ‘Male Orient of the Night’ contest! Actually, I think it was his niang-niang poses that won him the title!

Truly a Proverbs 31 woman

2010-10-06T18:03:00.001+08:00

A Wife of Noble Character

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies.

Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life.

She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

She finds wool and flax and busily spins it.

She is like a merchant’s ship, bringing her food from afar.

She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.

She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She is energetic and strong, a hard worker.

She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night.

Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber.

She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy.

She has no fear of winter for her household, for everyone has warm clothes.

She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.

Her husband is well known at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders.

She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants.

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.

When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness.

She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.

Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her:
“There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!”

Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.

Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

I always thought Proverbs 31 was asking the impossible. Looks like I've been proven wrong by this amazing lady!

I feel terribly sad because I can't imagine the feelings of loss her husband must be going through now. They spent 63 years of their lives together deeply in love with each other, supporting each other.

MM not only had foresight in building up a nation, but he had great foresight in choosing a wife. Not many men would marry a lady smarter or older than them. Most men are intimidated by that, but not MM.

MM looking really handsome in this photo

1st stayover guest

2010-10-01T21:02:00.002+08:00

Our Thai friend we met in Dallas is the 1st person to stayover at our place.

Edmund must be pleased I was forced to clear the tornado-struck room (which is usually my "overflow" room) for our guest.

Comment from our 1st stayover guest: Edmund is the cleanest guy he's met.

God knows Edmund needs some balancing up. That's why He placed me with Edmund. I am one messy dudette!

It's a pity it took me only 15 mins for the room to start looking like a war-zone again after our guest left.

Ending the celebrations at Sage

2010-09-30T22:15:00.007+08:00

It was hard to find a date everyone in the family could make it for my birthday dinner, but we finally found it before September officially ended.

Based on a recommendation from an ex-colleague who usually celebrates her extra-special occasions at Sage, and many good reviews online, I decided to have dinner there.

Since there were 7 of us, we could try almost every main course on the menu. We opted for 1 set dinner since dad wanted the lamb and ordered ala carte for the rest.

For appetisers:
Foie gras
Mushroom soup
Caesar salad that came with the set dinner

Reviews all seem to rave about the foie gras at Sage so we had 2 portions of it. I may be prejudiced, but I prefer the foie gras at Osia.

The mushroom soup was really really good although the eggy thing that came with it was a little strange.

The caesar salad with smoked salmon, walnuts and apples was really refreshing. I enjoyed that!

For main course:
cod
duck confit
black angus beef (portion for 2)
lamb shank
aglio olio (Edmund requested for mushrooms and smoked salmon instead of their usual seafood aglio olio)

While the food was good, it wasn't fantastic enough for me to want to eat there again.

For dessert:
Peanut butter panna cotta with raspberry sherbert (came with the set dinner)
Lavender bread and butter pudding with coconut sherbert (birthday complimentary)

I really enjoyed the panna cotta and bread and butter pudding by itself but I didn't see how the taste of the 2 sherberts complimented each dessert at all!

In my opinion, I'd rather eat at Osia.

(Btw, the best bread and butter pudding with coconut ice cream I've had is at Margarita's at Faber Avenue. Unfortunately, they don't serve the bread and butter pudding anymore. You can still try the coconut ice cream with their other desserts though!)

Bangkok

2010-09-21T22:29:00.005+08:00

We went to Bangkok with the excuse that we were celebrating our 1st year wedding anniversary. We took quite awhile deciding on the date, the airline and the hotel, and if you ask me, I might have changed all 3 decisions on hindsight.

We ended up going the weekend the red shirts decided to have their peaceful protest. Thank God it was really peaceful but that also meant the shops in the area were all closed that evening, and for some strange reason, the hotel reception adviced us not to go to the Suan Lum bazaar that wasn't anywhere near the protest site. Nonetheless, it was quite cool to see the sea of red shirts from the train we were in. (Just imagine all the shopping centres along Orchard Road closed and the whole road just packed with people dressed in red instead of motor vehicles.)

This was my 1st time taking a budget flight out of Singapore. Faith & Boon Yeow calls Jetstar 'LATESTAR' and it sure lived up to it's nickname. Our 9.20pm flight home ended up a 1.10am flight. No more LATESTAR for me if I can help it.

Another 1st for me was taking the train from Bangkok airport right to the doorstep of the hotel. Previously, I've always taken a taxi. But with the notorious traffic jams and the fact that we had a lot of time on our hands (we landed at 9am), we decided to take the train. I would highly recommend this mode of transportation if your hotel is within walking distance from a BTS station. We took the airport rail (15 baht) to Phaya Thai station and then took the BTS 1 stop to Ratchethewi to Asia Hotel (15 baht). All this in under 1 hour.

Asia Hotel was great for it's proximity to the BTS. It's one of the few hotels in Bangkok that is linked directly to the station. The hotel is terribly old but I was banging on getting a newly renovated room. While we got upgraded to a premier room which was huge and probably really classy in the 1980s, it was too run down for my liking in 2010! ;p But at the end of the day, it was just as well that we didn't pick a hotel near the peaceful protest area which many well-known and popular hotels are situated!

Biggest purchase for me: Wacoal underwear
Biggest purchase for Edmund: a pair of spectables with transition lens

Due to the protest, we had less opportunity to shop... a blessing in disguise for Edmund! haha!

At Osia with cousin Grace

2010-09-15T22:15:00.001+08:00

I was asking Grace for restaurant recommendations since she’s in the F&B industry (sort of) and she brought up Osia at Resorts World.

It’s been awhile since the 2 of us caught up outside of an extended family gathering, so we decided to catch up at Osia!

We made it just in time to have the pre-dinner set menu at $38++. For every course, there were 4 choices.

For appetizers:
We had the carpaccio and burnt potato broth. Both were great! I enjoyed the tender angus beef bits in the broth.

For mains:
We had the sea bass and duck. Both were very yummy! Grace asked for extra sauce for the duck.

For dessert:
We had the valrhona hot chocolate soup (over-rated) with black pepper ice cream and macademia nut tart with a berry sherbert (loved it!).

The portions were just nice for me (which are probably too tiny for guys). Grace suggested the foie gras on top of our set and it was exquisite! The winter melon (i think) complimented the foie gras so well. It wasn’t over-powering like some other foie gras I’ve tried.

Thank you Grace for the wonderful dinner! I so enjoyed hanging out with you over good food! I can finally say I’ve been to Resorts World even if I didn’t explore it much! I can't wait to go back to Osia to try out other items on the menu!

On the way out, we were each given 2 paper Resort World lanterns!

Travelling ahead of us

2010-09-13T22:44:00.003+08:00

Edmund got us invited to Andy & Yumin's place at Simei for dinner because we wanted to see their new temporary place!

We attended pre-marital classes together. They got married in June 2009 and are expecting their 1st-born in Dec 2010! (We got married in Sep 2009 and are not expecting anytime in 2010! ;p)

Andy and Yu Min were so sweet and thoughtful to bless us with a wedding anniversary present (Kathryn Scott's 'We still believe' CD) and a little birthday present for me!

1st year wedding anniversary

2010-09-12T21:42:00.011+08:00

How the year has flown by! God has been so good to us and Edmund has been very good to me! If you are wondering if he still writes me a card every month, HE DOES!

My anniversary present from Edmund:

This time last year, we were in church getting married.

This year, we also spent it in church! Edmund had to preach while I was on backup vocal duty.

After 2nd service, we had a Thai lunch together.

While I got to go home to rest, Edmund had to go back to church all the way till it was time for dinner at Chikuwa Tei at 9 Mohamed Sultan.

Chikuwa Tei is well-known for it’s chirashi don and cod fish hot pot. I was still feeling very full from lunch, so 2 of us ended up sharing a $39 set meant for 1. Unfortunately it wasn't fantastic. I must go back there to try their 2 specialties.

Just in time for our 1st year anniversary were the words of advice and blessings that were written to us at our wedding. Jasmine got them bound up in booklets and decorated them really prettily for us to read through! Even though we only got our hands on them 1 year later, it’s fun to be going through them now!

Overeating in the name of my birthday

2010-09-10T23:59:00.008+08:00

The highlight of my birthday was getting to hang out with Edmund and friends eating WAY TOO MUCH!

Pig-out 1: Yamada Restaurant & Sushi Bar at The Sail @ Marina Bay
The cut of salmon sashimi was so generous and fresh. I got a complimentary scoop of my favourite sesame ice cream because it was my birthday!

After that, Edmund and I explored the area, walked around Customs House and into The Fullerton Bay Hotel.

Pig-out 2: Margarita’s at Faber Avenue
I had my favourite catfish dish (only available at Faber) and got a complimentary brownie with a scoop of coconut ice cream!

Pig-out 3: At home
Jasmine, Faith & Yeow came over to chat over Long Flat Moscato wine, Port Salut with Sky Flakes crackers, Awfully Chocolate rum and cherry cake and bak kwa! Haha! They only left at 12.30am cos we kept talking and talking!

Teochew Gals at Ma Maison

2010-09-03T23:55:00.003+08:00

What was meant to be a catch up with my teochew gal friends ended up also as an early mini birthday celebration at Ma Maison at The Central.

A lot of people rave about Ma Maison. Because their restaurants are small, there always seems to be a queue. Forget about trying to make a reservation for a Fri/Sat/Sun only 1 or 2 days before. I kiasu-ly made the reservation for 4 of us 2 weeks before!

This is my 2nd time to Ma Maison, and I still don’t find the food memorable. The escargot, tonkatsu set and paella was nice, but I didn’t appreciate the hamburger steak or the beef stroganoff with omu rice. The brownie was quite awful (dry, accompanied by low-class ice cream)!

The girls gave me a really pretty card made by Ivy, surprised me with Taka vouchers (Irene asked me over msn what is a good voucher to buy for a friend and I totally didn’t suspect that it was for me!) and gave me a dinner treat.

The night flew by and I’m looking forward to the next time we catch up... especially now when I'm not in the same church and CPU as them!!!

Cocotte

2010-08-31T23:44:00.004+08:00

We were invited to Eric & Elaine’s 30th wedding anniversary celebrations held at their son’s restaurant, Cocotte, at Wanderlust Hotel on Dickson Road. It was a cozy, heart-warming and fun party.

Despite us being very late due to some miscommunication, we still got to enjoy the main courses and desserts. I wished we went with empty stomachs instead of full ones to truly appreciate the food. Since I have a different stomach for desserts, I enjoyed the warm chocolate soufflé best!

We missed most of the speeches but got to contribute to a scrapbook put together by guests who wrote their well-wishes and photos taken and printed on the spot at the party. It brought Elaine to tears!

Here was our photo taken by Ps Kai:

If we get to live till then, our 30th wedding anniversary will be in Sep 2039!

Edmund’s birthday

2010-08-18T23:38:00.003+08:00

This was Edmund's 1st birthday as a married man! haha!

Stop 1: Tampines Bike Park to see the YOG cycling trials. We found out the next day that there were at least 3 people we know who spotted us on TV at the cycling trials looking like tourists!

Stop 2: Apollo Char kwey Teow at Marine Parade. Our favourite char kwey teow! Highly recommended if you like your char kwey teow SWEET & WET!

Stop 3: Pasta de Waraku. The only place we know where they serve Edmund’s favourite wafu sauce pasta

Stop 4: it was suppose to be Jazz@Southbridge, but we were too early. We ended up exploring the Esplanade Bay area where we saw the YOG flame and discovered a nice touristy spot of Singapore we don’t find tacky! Kudos to STB.

Berlin

2010-07-18T16:14:00.004+08:00

Berlin was too HOT. I wonder if I’d have enjoyed the place more if not for the heat.

A small remaining part of the Berlin wall.

Edmund returned to Singapore earlier while we continued on to Dresden, Zurich, Bern, Milan and London.

At the Berlin main train station. Edmund headed off to Frankfurt to catch his flight back to Singapore, while the rest of us took the train to Dresden.

At Lynn's graduation

2010-07-14T16:38:00.003+08:00

The fastest graduation ceremony I’ve been at. All graduation ceremonies should be this fast!

Sisters! See any resemblance?

A day in London together

2010-07-13T22:37:00.014+08:00

The main purpose of the trip was to attend Lynn's graduation. Edmund and I left Singapore on 12 Jul while Ernie was in Germany, and Dad, Mum and Lynn left much earlier to travel around UK.

We arrived in London at 6am on 13 Jul. We’d both been to London eons ago, but Edmund remembered the underground system very well!

We took the underground to King’s Cross, deposited our luggage at St Pancras, collected our East Midland train tickets to Nottingham, and then headed to see some sights.

1st stop: Tower of London
Highlights: the crown jewels and the lifting of the Tower Bridge

It was a cloudy and wet day, but it was nice because it reminded us of our honeymoon – exploring a foreign land together.

It was a coincidence that Dom (my wedding photographer) was also in London, so we met up for lunch at Leicester Square for duck at Four Seasons Restaurant.

From there, Dom brought us to his favourite coffee place, Monmouth Coffee, before he took the train with us back to St Pancras so that we could catch the train to Nottingham.

Dad, Mum & Lynn came to pick us from the Nottingham train station where we had really yummy Thai food for dinner and got to do some supermarket shopping. I love the supermarkets in angmoh-lands!

I was so glad to have so much Asian food right from the start of the trip!

Natural Bridge Caverns

2010-06-18T18:54:00.006+08:00

We spent the last day in Texas driving to see the Natural Bridge Caverns. I wanted to check out the largest known commercial cavern in Texas because the photos I saw of it were really WOW!

The ancient formations in the caves were awesome. It’s one of the most well-formed and well-preserved caves I’ve been in.

While we went there to see the formations in the caves, in the end, it was the wildlife ranch park next to the caverns that was the highlight of the whole trip!

It was so much fun spotting the animals, taking photos, feeding them food and touching them from the aircon comfort of the car!

I love the zebras best and found the ostriches super kaypoh-looking! Check the photos out below!

San Antonio

2010-06-17T15:46:00.002+08:00

San Antonio is probably one of the most touristy cities in Texas. It’s famous for its River Walk (think miniature Venice) and Alamo.

It’s a very historical place with stories of war heros and battles. Unfortunately, all the historical facts given on the highly-recommended walking tour just flew by me as a non-American.

The River Walk was very pretty and quaint. It was nice to do some really touristy things for a change!

The place where they filmed the talent segment for the movie "Miss Congeniality" starring Sandra Bullock.

Outlet shopping at San Marcos

2010-06-16T18:36:00.002+08:00

San Marcos is most famous for its outlet malls.

After 2 half days and 1 full day of shopping, Edmund was horrified that I could still continue shopping. It’s not so much buying many things, but the seeing, searching and FINALLY buying that was fun. I think I actually had more fun helping my friends buy things!

The other highlight was being able to have Chinese food (RICE!) from the foodcourt 3 times in 2 days. That was to make up for the previous 10 days of ang-mo food. My tolerance for ang-mo is decreasing with each passing year.

Overnight with the Chambers

2010-06-14T15:26:00.002+08:00

I love it when we get to meet friends during our holidays abroad. During our honeymoon in Prague, we met Edmund's friend. This time we got to meet Edmund’s colleague and his family.

The Chambers were visiting relatives and invited us to stay with them at their dad’s place in Georgetown on our way to San Marcos. The timing was perfect and we appreciated their hospitality so much!

I enjoyed talking and getting to know the Chambers better that evening. I’m looking forward to visiting them at their place in Singapore.

Group shot by the fireplace. The house was much bigger than it looked from the outside!

GPA Reunion

2010-06-13T13:52:00.001+08:00

Edmund returned from the GPA summer program in June 2009 so impacted and blessed. This year, I got a taste of the tremendous blessing and honouring during the reunion.

During the conference, we stayed at the Grand Hyatt Airport hotel and later at a resort near Lake Texoma.

We were brought to the rodeo, took a cruise on Lake Texoma, attended a gala dinner at the Westin (where Edmund looked like a China waiter, and I a waitress!), amongst other things.

We met people from all over the world. From Nepal to Haiti to Timbaktu in Mali to Romania! It was like United Nations!

I enjoyed the sermon sessions, and was most ministered to by the all-ladies sessions where the wives gathered to hear from Jill Briscoe. She’s truly an amazing woman! I also got to hear from other women delegates who struggle to juggle ministry, family, career and the unique problems they face in their countries and denominations. My own concerns were embarrassingly small compared to theirs, if you know what I mean.

Thank You God for giving me this once-in-a-life-time opportunity to be at the reunion and to hear from so many great men and women of God.

Visit to Oakcliff

2010-06-06T22:47:00.005+08:00

The delegates were all assigned different churches to visit on Sunday. We got up super early to check-out, have breakfast and be ready to board the bus at 6.30am!!! We were the earliest group to leave the hotel.

We were assigned to visit Oakcliff Bible Fellowship. This was my first time visiting a mainly black church and they were celebrating their 30th anniversary!

Even though I didn't know most of the worship songs they sang, it was easy to join in in worship. There is just something rich about the music and singing that is hard for Chinese to re-produce... haha!

There was a little bridge-like part of a song we sang that really stuck with me...

To worship You I live
To worship You I live
I live to worship You

Dr. Tony Evans preached a really powerful and practical sermon. He was doing a series on the armour of God. His illustrations were so simple yet good because it drove home the point.

The icing on the cake was the tremendous hospitality and generosity shown to us. Waking up early to visit and worship at Oakcliff was definitely worth it!

Mesquite Championship Rodeo

2010-06-05T23:55:00.006+08:00

I've only seen the rodeo on TV and it's always been on American programes like "World's most amazing videos" where you see the cowboy getting thrown off the animal and/or getting rammed by the animal after being thrown off.

Going to the rodeo was more fun than I thought it would be! We got free cowboy hats (that made us look slightly like farmers from China).

We got to watch a motorcycle stunt live.

We even saw a cowboy limping off with a bloodied face! Very exciting!

The funniest bit was when the field was opened for kids to get the ribbon tied on to the calves' tails. I felt traumatised for the calves to have so many kids running after their tails!

Treats for the wife

2010-06-05T16:14:00.000+08:00

Last year when Edmund was at the GPA summer program, he returned with gifts for me FROM GPA. I got a card addressed to 'Mrs Edmund Wong' though I wasn't officially that yet, a floral tote bag AND US$100.

For the reunion this year, the wives got to go free!

All the wives from all over the world. Photo taken at DTS.

It looked like some Mrs Universe photo-shoot, just that we were baking in our hot pink polos instead of bikinis... haha! The shadows in the foreground show only a tiny fraction of the husbands taking photos.

Meeting John

2010-06-04T17:21:00.005+08:00

Mae is my primary 1 class partner from long ago who lives in Texas and only comes back to Singapore once a year at most. While we were in Texas, she was back at home in Singapore! Terribly ironic!

Well, the next best thing was to meet her husband whom I’ve heard so much about but never met. We met John at Grapevine Mills Mall.

It was short meet up, but it was good! It would have been even better if Mae was IN Texas. This was the only time I wished she was in Texas and NOT in Singapore for my own selfish reasons, of course!

I totally forgot to take a photo with John, so the photo below of me and my pri 1 class partner will have to do! We took this shot after I came back from Texas and the day before she returned to Texas.

She's the most photogenic person (who doesn't purposely pose to showcase her best angle) I know! She's truly a beautiful person inside-out. I hope God brings her back to Singapore soon!

Six Flags over Texas

2010-06-03T22:19:00.005+08:00

Edmund and I love roller-coasters. However, this trip to Six Flags revealed that our bodies could no longer take all that jerking, flipping, twisting and spinning!

Edmund threw up while on the Batman ride, and my nose bled while waiting for Edmund to finish up his ‘Merlion routine’ in the toilet.

After puking shot.

No more Six Flags from now on. It’s got to be Disneyland and Universal Studios! ;p

GRAND Hyatt

2010-06-02T23:57:00.002+08:00

Ranked the #1 hotel in Dallas by tripadvisor

"Shiok" to be greeted by this after a 20 over hour journey from Singapore to Dallas!

Texas Trip (2-19 Jun 2010)

2010-06-02T23:36:00.004+08:00

The last overseas trip we took together was on our honeymoon to Prague. This Texas trip came as a great surprise/bonus. We considered signing up for the conference trip at the end of 2009, but decided not to after considering whether we were suitable conference delegates and my limited leave.

However, things took a sudden turn in May 2010. The conference convener asked Edmund to reconsider going to Texas and I was very unhappy at my job.

I told Edmund, “if I resign from my job, I want to go!”. My blah job was definitely worth giving up for the once in a lifetime, God-given experience in Texas.

Once Edmund confirmed that it was ok for me to go and it was not too late for us to sign up, I put in my letter. All this happened in 3 days, although I had been wanting to leave my job for months! Just never felt the release to do so.

My last day of work was towards the end of May and we were off to America on 2 Jun.

Enjoying the yummy fish meal on the JAL flight to Tokyo (transit) complete with choya and refreshing yuzu drink (exclusive to JAL flights)! Loved it to bits!

Alice & Gary's wedding

2010-05-15T18:10:00.000+08:00

It's always extra-special to be involved in a good friend's wedding!

Check out how synchronised most of us were without any said arrangements on what to wear!

A pity Edmund had to leave early. At least we got a shot together before the ceremony started.

Family Day at the Bird Park

2010-04-27T14:19:00.000+08:00

I have Ornithophobia. That’s a phobia of birds. Something about their feathers and flapping wings just freaks me out.

Edmund was really surprised when I asked if he wanted to go for the staff family day at the bird park. On my own, I would never pay to be near birds. Since it’s free, why not? Take it as a fully-paid excursion trip date with my hubby!

The last time I was at the bird park was 7 or 8 years ago. It was also for a company event where I got to get in free. I don’t remember much of it except being freaked out during the bird show when the bird flew over my head. Other than that, the birds were kept quite well in their places/cages and never got near me!

This time round, I got to explore the bird park more with Edmund and it turned out A LOT more interesting than I expected and remembered it to be. I was so amazed and reminded of God’s creativity.

After 2 hours at the bird park in the scorching sun, we headed home. A morning well spent!

More CNY shots

2010-02-16T22:26:00.002+08:00

Grateful for people who have reached out to us, extended their hand of friendship to us and who are walking with us.

At Ps Kai's & Tina's place.

Roaring for the year of the tiger?! I have no idea what Edmund was trying to do!

Breakfast @ the Canopy

2010-02-16T13:06:00.005+08:00

Rider's Cafe was fully booked, so we headed to the Canopy at Bishan Park. Having breakfast there felt a bit like being transported out of Singapore!

1st CNY being married

2010-02-15T22:20:00.002+08:00

I love Chinese New Year because I get to catch up with my cousins, eat lots of yummy unhealthy stuff and receive red packets!

We still got red packets because we supposedly still can receive it since it's only our 1st year being married? Anyway, I've been giving red packets to my parents and siblings since I started working, so it was not my 1st year giving out red packets.

It was a bit tricky covering both sides of the family. It helps quite a bit that Edmund comes from a small family because my side is huge. Edmund has never had such a hectic 1st day of CNY is his life! We went to 8 homes on day 1. Usually Edmund only goes to 1.

On the 2nd day of CNY, we invited some of our friends over for drinks and new year goodies. Below is a photo of Edmund looking like he'd be a great daddy. (I know he will) Kids love Edmund!

Emcees at Chris & Zin Ee's wedding

2009-11-21T21:49:00.004+08:00

Most people know Edmund is a great public speaker, but not many know his Mandarin is also very good! This was the 2nd time we were emcees at a wedding in the year.

It was an honour to be able to be involved in Chris & Zin Ee's wedding. Chris and I grew up together, we were in the same CPU in LSBC, and they are a wonderful couple to hang out with!

Attending the 1st wedding as a married couple

2009-10-21T16:32:00.005+08:00

Wedding of Edwin & Ee Leen

The bride requested we come in fuchsia and Carol gladly loaned me the fuchsia dress she wore to my wedding. I love how the girls in fuchsia/pink turned out!

I would have loved the dress tons more if not for the ironing bit. After spending 60 minutes trying to iron the dress, it was still creased. I honestly started to doubt my ironing skills (or the lack of it).

Edmund took pity on me and offered to help iron the dress. He spent a good 30 mins on it before declaring that the dress was REALLY difficult to iron and that this was the best he could do!

I was most consoled when Carol later told me that she had forgotten to warn me about that ironing nightmare dress. She'd given up trying to iron dress and handed it to the expert (her mum) to get the job done.

Phew! My ironing skills are not THAT bad!

On a side note, the top 2 questions we were asked at the wedding:
1) How's married life? [Ans: ok, not bad, good]
2) When can we expect a baby? [Ans: not so soon]

Wedding dinner invite

2009-10-21T11:08:00.000+08:00

Instead of selecting a wedding invite card that came with the hotel dinner package, we decided to use one of our pre-wedding photos for the invite.

How I chose this photo came about when we were viewing the pre-wedding shots for the 1st time. Carol said that it looked like Tony Leung bringing Maggie Cheung to the Golden Horse Award. WAAAA... just that we all know that Edmund is no Tony Leung and I am no Maggie Cheung! Haha!

Honeymoon in Prague

2009-09-23T16:22:00.017+08:00

The weather in Prague was lovely and cool. With the exception of a day we had to walk in the rain to take the bus, the other days were either sunny or breezy with temperatures ranging from 14-26 celsius.

It was easy navigating around Prague. I'm impressed with their transportation system. We took the metro a lot and walked a whole lot more!

We explored castles,

walked along cobble-stoned streets,

visited churches,

had dinner with Edmund's Czech friend and even got to meet up with Audrey and David for dinner at Charles Bridge.

The restaurant at Charles Bridge had such great views and wonderful food but I couldn't eat a thing. In fact, I ended throwing up whatever I had earlier in the day because of the migraine I was having. I think that was the biggest disappointment for me during the honeymoon... that I couldn't enjoy and savour every moment of the evening with my good friend who flew in from London to meet us and and who so generously gave us an expensive treat at a posh restaurant.

Edmund felt the honeymoon was too short, but I was quite ready to go home because I was falling ill and wanted to "get on with life". Wedding preparation had been consuming me and had kinda put my life on hold. Strange thinking, huh?

I'd recommend Prague to others. It's a lovely, cheaper alternative to western Europe! We're glad we went to Prague for honeymoon!

Wedding Highlights

2009-09-13T21:45:00.000+08:00

Videography by Samuel Seah (simplemotion)

I didn't even realise that Samuel used the music that I mentioned on my blog a few months back until Pearlyn mentioned it!

Had great reviews about Samuel's videography skills. The money that went into videography was unbudgetted for. The good reviews from friends affirmed the money well-spent!

Wedding Dinner

2009-09-12T23:59:00.000+08:00

Even before the dinner started proper, I was already very tired. I had to be consistently reminded by the gals to smile, smile, SMILE!

I think many of us were amazed at how fast the dinner went. This was what Edmund wanted. By 10pm, dessert was about to come.

We didn't have any champagne-pouring, no fake-cake-cutting, no yum-seng and there was NOT suppose to be any 1st-dish walk-in music. However, I think there was some mis-communication amongst the hotel departments that resulted in a long wait in darkness for the music and 1st dish to come. And what horrible music came on with the 1st dish!!!

The other boo-boo I heard of was a waitress telling guests that there was no white wine. There was. In fact, the white wine was good!

ANYWAY, that aside, everything went well. Even the sabo dance was resolved with the help of Edmund's parents!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who made the wedding so warm, fun and memorable. We've been so blessed!

Makeup & Tea Ceremony at the Hotel

2009-09-12T18:52:00.000+08:00

It was a mad rush from the tea reception at church to the hotel, because the makeup artiste was coming at 5pm. Before I could finish removing the makeup from the morning, she was here.

The tea ceremony was slightly chaotic because we weren't sure who should go first. We didn't realise the process would take so little time. Although we started late, we ended within an hour.

I love the above shot of Edmund and I taken by my cousin Grace's husband, Wen. So glad he made it back from US in time for the dinner!

While my 2 grandpas are no longer around, I'm glad I still have my 2 grandmas at the wedding.

I'm also grateful for the many uncles and aunties who love me and who were there. It's nice to be part of a big family!

Finally, a great shot of mum and I captured by Dominic, the photographer...

Church Wedding

2009-09-12T16:00:00.003+08:00

The church wedding was tonnes of fun for me!

I was suppose to leave the house and head to church at 1pm in my white wedding gown. However, at the rate the duchess satin was creasing, I got out of it and back into my cotton “summer” dress before jumping into the wedding car. Carol & Lynn zipped the white gown back into the bag and brought it to church for the change instead.

I only got into the white gown in the holding room and waited till it was time to get in line for the walk-in. There was a mad scramble to adjust my big black trailing ribbon bow properly, and flip my veil over my face even as the church auditorium doors flung open.

I wore the veil due to peer pressure but still don’t see the beauty of the veil. It was irritating and it made my fake eye-lashes drop.

I forgot to revise my wedding vows and had to be prompted several times while Edmund said his flawlessly with emotion.

The crowd of guests in the auditorium really added to the great atmosphere of the whole wedding.

My dad started the wedding on a funny note when he asked if he could consider if he was going to give away the bride.

The other funny moments:-

• Opening poem to Ps Kai’s exhortation
• Ps Tony’s stunning and stunned opening statement
• The ring segment where I couldn’t get Edmund’s ring onto his finger

• The photo-video clip put together by Lynn (especially Dad’s 4 point sermon outline)

• Edmund’s thank-you speech

• The surprise video put together by the RAYs (the ‘Go forth and make babies’ statement was hilarious!)

All the funny moments made the simple wedding light-hearted, warm and fun.

My greatest regret: not having more time to mingle and take photos with the guests during the reception cos we had to rush to the hotel for the 2nd makeup session at 5pm.

Morning of the wedding

2009-09-12T12:34:00.000+08:00

Because we decided not to do the 'nao men' thingy, I had a leisurely morning at home before the makeup artiste came at 11am. I had time to:-

1) stick the auspicious red paper cut-outs done by Zin Ee's mum around the house

2) have morning devotion with my family

3) think about my thank-you speech of which I didn't say most of

4) relax and enjoy the morning at home with family and friends (Carol & Dom)

I'm glad we had the option not to do the 'nao men' thing. It conserved my energy and allowed me to be more collected through the day.

Back views

2009-09-10T22:30:00.000+08:00

I had my trial makeup, final gown fitting before bringing my gowns home on my birthday!

Thanks Carol for accompanying me!

Edmund had to occupy himself by buying lights along Balestier Road and going to NTUC cos he was not allowed to see the gowns beforehand!

Black

2009-09-05T08:29:00.004+08:00

Here's the recommended dress code colour for the church wedding - B L A C K

You read correctly. I'm not kidding.

Feel free to spunk up your black attire with sprinklings of colour(s)!

Nightmares

2009-09-05T08:17:00.005+08:00

I'm getting married a week from now.

This is my last weekend as a Miss.

I haven't been sleeping that well. I have no problems falling asleep but I've been remembering my dreams and waking up early no matter how late I sleep.

My dreams have been mild, mini nightmares about the wedding, but last night's was most vivid.

In my dream,

- I forgot to bring my lovely red reception dress and ended up wearing another ge-tai-ish red dress that was too suaku-ly short

- I forgot to bring my gold shoes and ended up wearing sneakers with the suaku-ly short red dress mentioned above

- I returned to my room to change out of my suaku-ly short red dress and found the bridal suite in a mess. I ended up spending a lot of time wiping the toilet seat?!?!

- I kept forgetting this and that and was repeatedly going up and down in the elevators

- I wondered how the guests were being seated at the tables because I don't remember finalising the guest-seating plan.

I think my dream is a reflection of how disorganised I feel.

Real

2009-09-04T21:52:00.002+08:00

I came home tonight to see this pretty thing on the living room coffee table. While it isn't for me, it's got something to do with me! It's a gift to my parents from an old neighbour who is unable to attend my wedding. So they sent this with a short congratulatory note to my parents. How sweet!

I wish they were artificial so that they would last forever. Unfortunately, these are real.

Bachelorette Party

2009-08-30T21:56:00.001+08:00

I broke another wedding tradition by planning my own bacherlorette party. Instead of painting the town red one evening, I had a tai-tai dessert party at home on a Sunday afternoon. I got to choose my guests, the dessert menu and what I wanted to do.

Showing off the jewellery we made and to be worn at the wedding...

Special thanks to Ivy who put in so much effort so that we could have the jewellery-making session, and to my church gal friends for obliging me! haha!

Dinner Favours

2009-08-24T22:15:00.000+08:00

Since we started making plans to have a Chinese wedding dinner at a hotel, I had quite made up my mind about having cake or chocolate for favours. I thought they were a lot more practical cos you could eat if you're hungry while waiting for the dinner to start.

BUT, today when I went to see the favours offered by the hotel, I changed my mind and decided to have non-edible favours instead, cos I liked the favours very much!

I hope the guests like them too! ;p

2 families

2009-08-23T22:27:00.000+08:00

Our 1st combined families photo taken at Edmund's installation today.

Edmund said it was a foretaste of what it would be like for him at the wedding. People were congratulating him, giving him gifts, wanting to take photos with him.

A VERY mini foretaste in terms of number of guest and program for the day.

Frills

2009-08-16T10:23:00.000+08:00

We've distributed 98% of the invites. If you haven't gotten yours, please let me know. It probably got lost in the mail or forgotten by a "card-passer".

I kept the cards really simple and no-frills. The only frills about my invite was the stickers beautifully designed by Jasmne and generously sponsored by Wei Chuen which I love love love! He even delivered it to my door-step with Limiin!

I've been so blessed by friends. Wei Chuen & Limiin, thanks for the stickers. It transformed the plain envelope to a wedding one! haha!

Journeying together

2009-08-11T23:35:00.001+08:00

Andy and Edmund are buddies at work. They are so different they are funny together!

We had the privilege of attending pre-marital classes with Andy and Yu Min. It was a real pity that we were not able to attend their wedding in June, but we got to visit them at their cosy love nest to see their wedding/honeymoon photos/videos tonight.

Andy is an amazing cook! I enjoyed the food, moscato wine and the company tremendously!

if only

2009-08-10T19:30:00.000+08:00

they were older... I'd love for them to be my page boy and flower girl. They are so cute lah!

We stopped eating and the mummies pulled out their cameras when we saw them like that.

National Day

2009-08-09T23:07:00.000+08:00

I'll miss family fun days in the future...

celebrating national day with the church...

with the CPU group...

with people who love me and accept me for my nonsense and all...

DOHP 2009

2009-08-07T23:00:00.000+08:00

I was soooo super tempted to say 'yes' to Jennifer to be involved again this year. Even Edmund was supportive, but in the end I knew I couldn't handle the several Sunday nights of rehearsals with wedding prep. I also didn't have enough leave left to take with the wedding and honeymoon coming up.

Next best option: being an usher with Jasmine at the balcony and coming down at the end to take photos with some of them in the choir!

Losing count

2009-08-02T00:59:00.005+08:00

I've been spending quite a few late nights writing the invites. Edmund settled his own, Mum helped me with the Chinese & Dialect church people.

This stack is not even 50% of the invites to be given out.

Not funny.

Honeymoon

2009-07-27T07:04:00.005+08:00

Edmund and I have spilt our duties. He takes care of the wedding dinner and house, while I handle the church wedding and honeymoon.

I've finally settled our honeymoon destination after spending many hours and nights on the internet and making 2 boo-boos.

Thanks to Edmund's sister, she gave us her frequent flyer miles on SIA and NWA to use. It was too difficult trying to get flights on SIA/SilkAir, so we had to go with NWA. But here's where it got complicated...

The nearest NWA direct flight from Singapore is to Tokyo. Since I've been to Tokyo before, I thought of going to Honolulu. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough free flyer miles to get us there. I did some calculations after a day's draining work and felt that topping up S$500+ more to get us there wasn't too bad.

After using my credit card to make the top-up, I realised my calculations were WRONG!!! I needed S$1000+ more and that was excluding tax. I was SOOOOO upset with myself. Every screen in the process of purchasing of miles stated that the transaction was NON-REFUNDABLE.

Edmund was really nice about it eventhough I just threw S$500+ down the drain. He knew how upset and frustrated I was.

From there, I turned my attention to Europe and realised I didn't have to top-up anything to fly to that part of the world.

With my very limited annual leave, we only have time for 1 European city. We've decided on Prague and I'm glad I've been hearing good reports about that place. It's supposedly one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

[My 2nd boo-boo: I accidentally selected Edmund's sister's name in the reservation booking instead of mine from the drop-down namelist. And I only discovered it after making the credit card payment for the airport tax! Fortunately, the reservations office in Singapore made an immediate cancellation and said that there would be no charges incurred since the tickets had not been issued yet. If I had to "donate" another few hundred dollars to NWA, I'd just kill myself!]

I swear I have a phobia of airline internet bookings now.

Unconventional march-in

2009-07-25T18:30:00.004+08:00

What a sporting bridal party!

If you've been following my blog, you might have noticed I'm not your conventional bride. I like to do things differently.

The above video made the whole march-in sooooo different and soooo fun!!! Too bad I can't dance! hee hee...

We got our keys!

2009-07-15T22:57:00.005+08:00

We've gotten our keys! The house looks small without anything in it!

I think I like the kitchen best although it's probably the place I'll spend the least time in! ;p

Now to get the fumigators, painters, and cleaners in before Edmund shifts in 1st.

Wedding 6

2009-07-11T23:39:00.003+08:00

Edmund was busy taking note of all sorts of details at this wedding. I'd forgotten the next wedding I'm attending is MINE!

What was cool about Randy & Kara's wedding:
1. The variety of pre-wedding photo-shoots they had. (I especially love the one they took with the horses. So not-Singapore.)
2. The funny NG takes of their thank-you video.
3. Kara's very mod evening gown.
4. Kara walked down the aisle alone and unveiled. (my applause for doing things differently!)

Shanghai night

Cards & Stickers

2009-07-07T23:46:00.001+08:00

Work stress has been manifesting itself in a migraine that won't go away.

Jasmine sms-ed me to inform me that the wedding invites were here and that made my day. I mean, that was the only thing I was looking forward to at the end of the day (besides seeing Edmund).

I slightly regret having such a small card (my fault) but then again, I have to remind myself that the card will be lost/forgotten in no time by the majority who receive them.

My invites are VERY SIMPLE... a bit on the minimalist side (except for the wordings cos of the English & Mandarin) and I guess that's very me!

Bonus that night: Quan & Miin delivered the stickers to my doorstep!

Thank you Jasmine and Quan! I've been so so so blessed by you.

Now to assemble a team and find the time to settle the writing of the invites!

Leave

2009-07-01T13:38:00.000+08:00

When I was in Rome, I found out from my manager that I had to quarantine myself for 7 full days after I got back to Singapore before I could go back to the office. Working from home wasn't an issue until I found out that HR wanted me to take annual leave.

That got me boiling mad, cos that meant I wouldn't have enough leave for my honeymoon. I got Chris to get the cell group to pray that somehow I wouldn't have to take annual leave.

When I got back on Tuesday, my manager sms-ed me to say that I could telecommute from work and not have to take annual leave. PRAISE GOD! More so when I know that my other colleague who's in Tokyo for holiday has to take annual leave for her quarantine because she left for holidays after the HR circular came out. I left before.

I'm praying for her too that somehow she will not need to utilise her annual leave when she returns from Japan. She's getting married 1 week after me, and I totally can identify with how angry she feels/felt!

On a separate note, I still haven't finalised my honeymoon destination yet. The original plan was to go to Lombok.. and this time round if my company still has that ridiculous/unfair 7 day quarantine using annual leave rule, I'll not have enough leave.

Mrs-to-be

2009-06-30T20:54:00.002+08:00

Not YET a Mrs, but in my very first card as 'Mrs Edmund Wong', I get US$100! How about that! ;p

I think there are going to be MANY MORE lessons about trusting God when I get married!

Unhealthy bride

2009-06-18T21:17:00.003+08:00

While most brides would be watching their diet if their wedding were less than 100 days away, I'm doing the opposite. I think it's the stress at work. Lunch and going home is the only thing I look forward to each work day.

I've been eating lots of unhealthy fried food much to the horror of my colleague who is getting married 1 week after me. While she's eating more healthily, I've been most reckless in what I'm shoving down my throat.

Today was quite bad...

I had fried chicken cutlet with chicken rice from the Malay stall and topped it off with a chocolate peanut butter waffle in 1 sitting. My colleagues were shocked! But honestly, I have no regrets with the waffle. It was so YUMMY! For tea, I had a moist and rich chocolate muffin made by my senior manager.

Maybe I should sms the gown designer that she might want to make the gown slightly bigger for expansion purposes...

Too much on my mind

2009-06-18T21:00:00.003+08:00

While Edmund is away in America, I'm off to Europe with my family tomorrow night. This is going to be my last family holiday before I get married!

Edmund and I will both be arriving back in Singapore on the same day and then it should be time to start "pia"-ing for the wedding, right?

WELL...

Once I return, my major work project goes live and Edmund will probably have tonnes of work to catch up on especially with IDMC coming up in Aug.

People ask me if I'm excited about my wedding. Honestly, I'm too busy fighting with my own attitude at work to think much or enjoy the wedding preparations. At the back of my mind, I know there are a lot of things not finalised, but I have no energy to deal with them. I'm just pushing it till Jul & Aug.

Ask me if I'm excited about my new house and the answer will be the same. We haven't made progress with the house since buying the sofa!

Somehow, everything will fall into place in due time. That's what I believe. How, I'm not sure. Haha!

Progress

2009-06-13T21:02:00.004+08:00

3 major things for the wedding were settled in the last week.

1. Alice decided which florist she wanted to go with and I mailed out the cheque.

2. Sharon decided which caterer she wanted to go with and we confirmed the menu items.

3. Jasmine did the final changes to the wedding invites and I should be able to start writing the invites in July. Can't wait to get my hands on the real thing!

I'm terribly pleased with the progress. I feel accomplished! Notice most of the work was done by other people! ;p

I'm blessed with great friends!

Skype

2009-06-08T21:42:00.002+08:00

Edmund left for a 3-week course in Texas on Saturday morning and we tried skyping today.

He was going to wash up and go to bed while I was starting the day.

I told him he looked handsome on Skype and he told his new room-mate...

'this is her look when she just wakes up!'

@#$%^&*

But to be fair, I really do look very different with my specs on and with my camouflage off.

Love Story

2009-06-08T08:28:00.002+08:00

This version is so much nicer and classier than the original one done by Taylor Swift. Hmm... wonder if I can use it anywhere in the wedding...

Sofa

2009-05-30T22:05:00.004+08:00

We finally made our first furniture purchase for our home...

this sofa model in a PLAIN darker beige material.

I sure hope it gets delivered:
- on time
- in the correct colour, material, measurements
- without defects, insects crawling out(!!!)

I've heard/read too many complaints about horrible furniture malls/shops.

CPF-poor

2009-05-27T20:17:00.004+08:00

Looks like we'll only be getting the keys to our flat on 15 Jul 2009. Our runway with the flat is really short!

We took half day off today to go down to the HDB Hub at Toa Payoh for our first appointment. It involved 8 people (excluding HDB personnel) and the whole process took 2 long hours. I'm horrified at the amount of paper HDB uses!

Building a collection

2009-05-26T22:03:00.000+08:00

Edmund and I went to visit my cousin Karen tonight. She'll be off to Canada with her family for the next 4 years and there's a lot stuff they don't want to keep. She invited us to come pick whatever stuff we need.

We came home tonight with kitchen knives, utensils and cutlery, pretty bowls, WMF pots, brand new Ikea wine glasses and tealight holders.

We also "choped" her drying rack, VAX machine, dust buster, electric kettle, Corningware, woks, Ikea stools, cordless phone, lamps, etc.

Karen says we're doing her a favour while Edmund and I feel really blessed to have people like Karen help us as we start from scratch.

Junk

2009-05-25T09:06:00.004+08:00

Since starting my new job, I've been consuming a lot more unhealthy food than usual for the following reasons:-

1. My colleagues enjoy fast food! Strange!
2. When I am stressed/sian/upset, fries/chips/ice cream cheer me up

This is so not a good time to be getting hooked on to junk food. I feel like my double chin is growing on me!

I asked Edmund to stop offering to buy me McDonald fries. He knows it makes me happy.

Here's a list of foods a wedding website said I should avoid:-

* Fried foods (My comfort food!!!)
* White cream sauces (I love carbonara sauce, tartare sauce, mayonnaise)
* Butter
* Desserts (I have a separate stomach dedicated for desserts!)
* Sodas (I've been drinking a lot of Sprite lately, but I believe this would be the easiest to avoid)

ARGH!

Shopping Kaki

2009-05-24T23:24:00.002+08:00

We celebrated Carol's birthday in advance tonight at Prego's.

Carol is my shopping kaki. She used to also be my cut-hair kaki until I started to keep long hair. Carol has a good eye and I love shopping with her! Carol is going to follow me everywhere on my wedding day!

I don't dare to post a in-your-face photo of Carol here, cos she might don't friend me anymore! ;p

Sharon was joking that this shot looks a bit like our wedding rehearsal dinner.

I will miss these people whom I've grown up with when I move to another church. Sure, we can still meet up for dinner every now and then BUT IT JUST WON'T BE THE SAME. Don't try to convince me otherwise!

Off on a tangent, I like the tiramisu at Prego's.

Today?!

2009-05-21T17:57:00.004+08:00

I seldom remember my dreams.

Last night, I dreamt that I woke up on a Saturday morning and jumped out of bed asking myself if I was getting married today. Thoughts of ‘could it really be today?’, ‘so soon?’, ‘so exciting!!!’ came to mind. That’s all I remember of the dream.

I’m looking forward to the wedding even though there’s still a lot of things we haven’t done. Not sure if I’m in denial, but I’m not gan zheong YET. Maybe must wait till July or August! Ha!

Sharon, you need to bug/remind me about the things I need to get done.

Eventful day

2009-05-16T23:02:00.012+08:00

Visit to the new house:
We started the day by popping over to our new house to take measurements and photos. The seller was in the thick of packing so the house was rather dusty and messy. So glad dad and mum came along to help us take measurements!

Wedding 5:
Then it was off to Ron & HP's wedding solemnisation and lunch at Meritus Mandarin. I love the ballroom there. This was my 1st time having a full 8-course dinner menu during lunch! The food was GOOD and I thought the wedding favours were pretty. Didn't get any photos with the bride & groom though.

Wedding shoes:
Since parking was already free from the wedding lunch, I decided to hunt for my wedding shoes at Orchard. My colleague told me about a shoe shop called Anna Nucci at Far East Plaza. She'd gotten her wedding shoes there for under $100. However, when I went there, I couldn't find Anna Nucci. I ended up walking into Mondo and coming out with a pair of strappies that I think I can wear for the wedding. Edmund was really patient as I went from each shoe department and shop.

Not as nice as these I borrowed for the pre-wedding shoot though! However, I don't think many people will see my shoes! [Photography by Dominic Khoo]

Furniture browsing:
We went to The Helping Hand, LifeStorey warehouse, and 2 other furniture stores at Kaki Bukit Enterprise One.

Renovation forums:
We were seriously considering taking up a package from Mode Studio cos it sounded really worthwhile. I guess it was too good to be true cos I came back and found tonnes of bad reviews of it's sister outlets under different names. Sneaky!

From the renovation forums, I found a few furniture shops that were recommended:
1. S&C at Blk 338 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1, #01-1647
2. Yi Sheng Furniture Blk 399 Taman Jurong Shopping Ctr, #01-01
3. Univonna Pte Ltd at Sunget Kadut Way, Furniture Mall at Beach Road & Blk 54 Chin Swee Road

Veil

2009-05-14T22:36:00.008+08:00

Several months ago, I mentioned to Chris that I had half the mind not to wear a veil down the aisle. Why, you might ask.

1. What on earth is the veil for? There are so many things we do traditionally at a wedding that no one seems to know why we really do it. (eg. cut cake, pour champagne down a pyramid of glasses, couple intertwining their hands to drink champagne, yum-seng, etc)

2. How to get good photo shots of the pretty bride's face if she has a veil over her face while she makes her entry?

3. It will blur my vision. I want to see everything clearly, not through the tiny holes of the veil. I can't even stand it if my fringe is near my eyes.

Aiyah, then Chris mentioned that the veil is worn to symbolise the virginity of the bride. I know it doesn't really apply in this day and age... but what if some traditional person ends up getting stumbled cos I didn't wear a veil?!?! ;p

Haha! Generally I don't see any use or beauty in wearing a bridal veil. Very romantic meh?

I think Edmund is a little bit worried he wouldn't know how to put the veil properly in place after lifting it. I warned him not to leave my veil hanging in mid-air after lifting it! ;p

Day gown design

2009-05-13T22:34:00.004+08:00

Thank God for friends with good taste!

Alice and Carol came down with me to see the gown designer tonight. The design of the gown has been finalised on paper and I've gotten my measurements taken.

Happy! :)

Now must pray that the gown turns out what I envision it to look like after it goes on my body!

Here's the sketch of the 1st design that got scrapped when I realised that wearing a ball gown is not really me even though it's got a really grand effect.

If only I could sketch like that!

We ended off the night at Macs with hot fudge sundaes and fries! :)

Go Live!

2009-05-12T22:33:00.005+08:00

The female colleagues in my dept made sure we went home on time last night to catch the wedding live on TV. Edmund wanted to go to Courts to look at stuff but for the 1st time in 2 years, I told him that I REALLY wanted to go home to watch TV.

The men cannot understand who would want to watch somebody’s wedding live on TV. Well, I think many women in Singapore wanted to watch it. Even my mum joined me!

I wanted to watch it mainly to see what she would wear and thought it would be fun to spot Dom on TV.

I quite enjoyed the coverage of the nao men and what went into preparing for the wedding. But it got quite draggy when the 3 male tv hosts went round asking celebrities to give their well-wishes to the couple. B-O-R-I-N-G!

Some personal thoughts:-

* I like bling-bling!

* Poofy ball gowns are not my thing

* The cost of the flower deco that supposedly could buy you a car failed to catch my eye. Then again, I’m so not a flower person.

* Michelle was radiant and looked like she was having the time of her life, but Shaun looked really really tired and almost washed out. 1st time seeing the groom trailing behind the bride cos of her poofy dress. Usually it’s the bride trailing behind cos she’s struggling with her dress

* I love her buffet dessert idea (cos I have a separate stomach for dessert) although I couldn’t imagine how 800 people were going to get their dessert without being in a big human jam. Anyway, most hotels’ desserts cannot make it.

* It’s so much nicer and orderly walking down a church aisle compared to a banquet hall aisle

* Having too big a bridal party or too many photographers/videographers can really get in the way and make things look really messy/chaotic

* I thought it was tiring and back-breaking for Dom to run ahead, squat/bend, shoot, repeat that, make way for the camera (whom I believe had priority), and jostle a place with dozens of others wielding cameras, all night.

Edmund’s thoughts:-

* He is so glad my family is not traditional and that he doesn’t have to sweat it out in the nao4 men2 process

* Michelle’s attire was too short, skimpy, sexy, low-cut, revealing... you get the picture. (That’s my uncle!)

* He cannot understand why we girls must change so many outfits during the wedding. (If I had my way and more money, I also want to have more outfit changes! ;p )

* He liked Shaun’s grey suit although the practical side of him would never have chosen to make a grey suit. (I like the metallic grey suit too!)

The 1st thing my female colleagues talked about this morning: the wedding.

From scratch

2009-05-06T23:18:00.002+08:00

I don’t visualise things well from verbal descriptions and drawings. I need to see the real thing, or at least photos of the real thing.

We were suppose to finalise the wedding gown design tonight, but when I saw an actual photo of the gown the designer had suggested and I had agreed to, I realised that was not what I had in mind.

Though Corinna was really nice about it, I felt bad that she had to go back to the drawing board to come up with more designs cos I didn't know what I wanted now anymore.

Poor Di Jing who came along with me after my last-minute appeal had to gobble her Subway dinner, get lost with bad-sense-of-direction me in the car to the designer’s and watch me make no progress in my gown matters.

This is such a small matter but I went home tired and discouraged! My job is getting the better of me. It’s sapping my energy. It’s killing all the fun. With work stress, the lack of sleep and time, I half wished I could just pick a gown off the rack. Honestly, I feel really sian about wedding preparations tonight.

I must have sounded pretty down in my sms to Carol, cos she gave me a really encouraging reply. She said that starting from scratch is hard, but the end product will fit you like a glove. I sure hope so! Well, at least that sms gave me a glimmer of hope! It also reminded me that when I went to try gowns off-the-rack, I didn’t find/see anything I really liked anyway.

My tiredness and fussiness is making me oh-so-confused!

Medical Report

2009-05-04T23:57:00.001+08:00

After more than 3 months of dilly-dallying, we finally went to collect our medical reports from Dr Leong last night. We registered our names at the clinic at about 7pm but only got to see doc at 9.45pm. *fainted*

Even with many patients waiting for him, doc still takes his own sweet time explaining stuff! It’s great when you’re inside his room hearing his detailed explanations. It’s horrid when you’re outside waiting to see him! All my favourite doctors are like that!

Edmund has been bugging me to get my cholesterol checked for the longest time. As expected, my bad cholesterol level is a little bit above (+5) the acceptable range. I was pleased to hear doc say this is no cause for concern. Too bad Edmund thinks otherwise.

The couple medical checkup is good for those who want to know how their current health might affect your kids in the future. 2 areas of concern arose from our medical reports.

1. Allergies – asthma, eczema & sinusitis

I suffer from all 3 of the above while Edmund has eczema & sinusitis in severe degrees! The medical report showed that our eosinophil readings are high with Edmund’s over the normal range. In the natural scheme of things, our future babe will really ‘kena’ from our bad genes. Doc’s recommended solution? Breast-feed for at least 2 years. (plus prayer to break all unhealthy traits from passing down!)

eosinophils are white blood cells that are one of the immune system components responsible for combating infection and parasites in vertebrates. Along with mast cells, they also control mechanisms associated with allergy and asthma

2. Thalassemia - an inherited form of anaemia caused by a deficiency/faulty synthesis of haemoglobin (the blood protein that transports oxygen to the tissues)

I was hoping the test would confirm whether I have thalassemia minor or not. However, doc said this wasn’t the actual thalassemia test. Edmund definitely doesn’t have thalassemia so there’s no danger of our future kids being born with thalassemia major (this requires regularly blood transfusions for life!)

My haemoglobin readings are very very low. This is the reason I’m perpetually sleepy and always yawning. At first I thought it was thalassemia minor since some of my dad’s siblings have it, but it seems my readings are worse than most people with thalassmia minor.

Doc has put me on abimin pills for 3 months. He said that I need to get my iron levels up otherwise it wouldn’t do me nor the baby good when and should I get pregnant in the future. Currently, I don’t even have enough for myself, so the babe won’t have enough (baby would be very small and under-developed cos of the insufficient oxygen).

I know this sounds crazy, but I’m pleased that I now have a valid medical explanation to why I’m sleepy all the time.

Invites

2009-04-29T23:30:00.000+08:00

Jasmine indulged me in bridal talk tonight over a meaty dinner.

The church invite is almost confirmed. Now I've got to settle the wordings for the dinner invite.

My invite cards are going to be VERY simple, some might even consider it plain. Jasmine had to stop herself from giving me too zen a design. Joe said that as long as it is nice, simple is ok.

Hope most find the simplicity refreshing and not too "sway2 bian4"! ;p

Hold back

2009-04-27T23:20:00.000+08:00

Edmund wanted to use our top 20 pre-wedding shots as a screen-saver for his laptop. But I stopped him.

Must save it to show it only on the actual day mah...

Here's another 1 of those non-top-20 photos! haha!

Photography by Dominic Khoo

Pre-wedding shots

2009-04-26T22:08:00.005+08:00

I got to see the pre-wedding photographs today!!! Thanks Dominic! I think the photos are really artistic and stylo!

Took us about an hour to pick 20 shots. So grateful Carol and Jasmine were around to help Edmund and I pick out the best of the lot. It made a huge difference that they were around to give comments. We had a good time laughing and joking!

OK, here's a teaser shot not in our top 20 list!

Photography by Dominic Khoo

Wedding 4

2009-04-25T23:19:00.002+08:00

I've been waiting for KC's wedding cos we've been wanting to see what the crowd situation would be like for about 900 people at church.

What I loved at KC's wedding:
1. The short duration of the ceremony
2. The outdoor live music (just a guitarist and a singer, but the mood created was fantastic. The singer's voice was so soothing!)
3. The tentage in the evening (the setting and ambience was refreshing!)

Discussion Points:
1. Should I have a long train or short train? The long train has a great effect while walking down the aisle but a real bother when you're trying to move around, go toilet, etc. I always imagine collecting wanton and rice and other food bits under my train while I move around at the reception area

2. Why do I always see brides struggling with their gown as they walk down the aisle? I've seen my fair share of brides having to hold up or kick the front of their gown while walking down the aisle.

Points to note:
1. Ask Edmund to place the veil nicely in place after lifting it.
2. Remind Edmund not to walk ahead of me cos the gown tends to slow the bride down.

Wedding gift

2009-04-24T08:21:00.000+08:00

Edmund was really shocked the other day when I blatantly asked:

So what are you going to give me as a wedding gift?

He thought I was trying to trick a present out of him!

Taken from the wedding website, The Knot:-

Qn.
Please inform us as to the matter of the wedding-gift exchange between the bride and groom. Is this a time-honored tradition?

Ans.
It is an optional tradition for the bride and groom to exchange gifts - the night before the wedding, the morning of, or once the festivities are over. You could give each other something to wear for the wedding itself (cuff links, a necklace) or maybe something for the honeymoon (a great pair of sunglasses, snorkeling gear). It doesn't have to be anything major - a photo frame or a treasured book of poetry make great gifts. Honor this tradition in whatever way you two desire!

Actually I never knew about this tradition until Wendy told me before she got married that she had bought Melvin a watch as a wedding present.