On 9th Sept 2009..

Yesterday marks the special once in a lifetime (well, at least for my lifetime) day. Besides being the 9th day of the 9th month in the 9th year of 2000, its also my bro-in-law's wedding day with Grace.

It was indeed a very hectic and tiring day. None the less it was a joyous day for everyone in the family. After much planning and anticipation, the day has finally arrived especially for the happy couple. Helping out in the event brings back many fond and memorable moments for me and hubby. It just seems like yesterday we were the ones getting married and now with a blink of an eye its already a year fast forward. Both me and hubby have fun being apart of the whole family event. Even when it means minimal sleep, loads of stress and the scorching sun frying our brains out which feels like 40' Celsius at its peak.

Hubby and another friend of mine played paparazzi for the day tagging along the official photographer on the day's event proper. The final binding moments happens over a courtyard on the 4th floor at Holiday Inn. With the setting sun as the perfect backdrop, vows were exchanged and tears of joy filled the air. The groom sealed his vows with a very passionate yet loving kiss and the feast begins moments later.

Wishing both David and Grace the most wonderful things in the world and may their blissful marriage be blessed with love from all of us who cares for them.

Congratulations!

1 year gone and many more years to come

Before we knew it, we have already reached our 1st anniversary today. Nothing fancy as both me and hubby just wanted to have some "us" time at home. I guess for the past year, things were pretty hectic for both of us. Arranging for the marriage, looking for a house, getting the right reno, adjusting to the whole concept of being together as man and wife with tons and tons of responsibility and added stress. Work was stressful and even keeping the job was hard. Come to think of it, it's been tough on us. Internal and external factors adds on to the endless hurdles that seems to be firing at you like a round of paintball game. A hit, is an instant bruise.

Looking back at the 1 year together, we both have our ups and downs. We share crazy giggles as well as heart breaking arguments that eventually lead to cold wars. Harsh words were exchanged but nothing as compared to the mushy words we have for each other. The yin and yang of life. Good + Bad = Reality ( Good - Bad = Fantasy). If only life were like a box of chocolate. Dark Chocolates to be precise. Though full of surprises, it always leaves you with a tint of sweetness to it. Don't we all just wish for it to turn out that way all the time?

I don't know about you.. but to me, to go through the 1st year is hard. It's a time when everything seems to be real and the old seems to be so new all of a sudden. It's a trying time for both I suppose.

Am glad that me and hubby manage to pull this through.

Thank you Baby for the wonderful year and looking forward for many more to come. Be assure that I will always be there if you need me, supporting you in any ways.

Life goes on..

Left the house late and reached the office close to 9am this morning. Not something I am proud of but it doesn't help when your house doesn't seem to have a clock hanging somewhere prominent. Daily lives in our new homes seems to be pretty alright so far. We have not really been enjoying the outcome of the whole "homey" feel as much as we could ever since we moved in. Hubby suffered a flat butt sitting on the hard marble floor watching CSI for 2 episodes in a row.. and me? I'm busy organising my kitchen trying to make the best of it.

Ever since I was a kid, I fancy all things nice and perhaps..unnecessary at one point. Well, can you fault me for wanting an egg cuter for those nasi lemak craving days or a compact shredder to make my mom's delicious wanton or a healthy bowl of salad? If women can be entitled to have multiple pairs of heels to match every outfit, I have all the damn rights to be fully equipped with all the "what if" necessity for those "what if" days. My bento crazy days is not over as I have yet to get the proper tools and most importantly my rice cooker is not in ( already have it ordered, will be delivered in 2 weeks time).

We still need lots of getting used to in order to have the whole routine proper and right. Something is always missing or incomplete at this stage of time and I have nothing to complain about. Let's just give it all another 2 months and we shall see.

p/s: cooked soup out of my new thermal cooker pot (2.5L) The results seems pretty amazing, minus all the hassle having to watch over the fire while it cooks. Excellent!

Update June - July

Finally, finally and finally. I guess I was alittle late to blog about it now since me and hubby have already moved in to our new house. Earlier this month on the 18th of July, as early as 7am, both me and hubby made the simple "auspicious" move in thingie. Nothing grand, no roast pork or burning of fire crackers.. just the 2 of us with a few bags of belongings. We enter the house as proud owners.

Since we have been bugging our contractor non-stop to finish the house up in time for us to clean the house before hand and move in on the 18th July, we only manage to officially "get" the house still partially un-done (with bits and pieces here and there, but nothing major) on Friday 17th July. 7.5 weeks have gone into renovating the house that not a single day we find it easy to just let go and have a peace of mind. Am really glad all this nightmare is over. However, before I can really call my home a "HOME", the nightmare still continues even after we moved in.

As we happily go on with our cleaning chores, we found that our common toilet accessories are turning rusty, despite the fact that the material is meant for "wet" conditions. Lucky us, they are only from Ikea and does not cost a bomb ( besides, we went back to Ikea to have them changed). Imagine having your stuffs rusting away before you even get a chance to use them? It's horrible. One part of our wash basin's pipe was so rusty, it seems like it has been used for the last 10+yrs. Apparently, the cleaners used some sort of strong chemical wash in the toilet that they also wear away the steel and made them rusty.

Of all the mishaps that we have with the house, we are glad that the house is a calm and serene place where we rest at night. The silence is so quiet, the sound of cricket fills the area, giving you the feeling that you are at some remote area away from the hustle and bustle. A quiet serenity oasis.

The house is not that ready to receive guest, but it won't be too far either. Will try to post up some pics in Facebook soon as my com just crashed earlier this week.

Lunch time updates

While waiting for my lunch, perhaps I though I can just do a quick update on the house.

Since my last post, I thought my nightmare would have been over since things are more on track now and there has been progressively work done almost everyday. Little did I know that I have really underestimated my dear contractor on what he is really capable of.. GIVING ME A HEART ATTACK!! Despite constant check and feedback to him, he still doesn't really do what he is suppose to do.. *supervise*. Not only did he not come to the site for a daily check on the work done, he is so oblivious about the things we have told him gazillion times! Gosh...

Can someone just put a knife to my freaking head pls.. Another suprise from him, I am afraid I may just stick the knife up HIS head instead...

The hectic weekend

The reno was going pretty smoothly now after some rocky schedule and my endless nagging here. Almost every weekend now we were running errands for the house. It's either to go hunting for a house lock, looking at lightings for the entire house, furnitures or asessories.

Here's a brief look at what we did for the past 3 weeks.

5 - 7th June - Back in KL. Went to Puchong to get our waterheater and ceiling fan. Made 2 trips there as the 1st trip was closed due to public holiday (Agong's bday!)

8 - 12th June - Bargain hunting around S'pore + constant inspection of the house reno

14th June - Went to JB *Bukit Indah* for lightings.

17th June - Delivery from our Sanitary Suppliers and went to Ikea to purchase the remainder lights and mirrors.

18th June - Rowe and Nicky Boy in town / Moving all lightings bought to the house for installation the next day

19th June - Electrician came and told us that the ceiling fan cannot be fixed as the hook is too long and doesn't match the S'pore safety standards. At this point, we were having a headache on how to solve the problem.

20th June - Went to Alpha S'pore office after consulting them of the problem and have it fixed. Paid a fees for the parts/materials changed. *Lucky us!*

21th June - Father's Day

When we were in JB looking for our lightings, we were lucky to have Dave and Grace there to drive us around. Shop after shop, we spent the entire afternoon from 2 - 6pm looking for lights. Finally we had dinner before heading back to SG.

The following week, we were busy looking at bargains and comparing prices and keeping our contractor on track. The ceiling fan we bought from Puchong aparantly was too low if we install it and uses the pulley system/hook. The s'pore govt have changed all import models to the bracket hooks instead of the ones we have. With the std hook at 8inch, Mike can literally touch the fan blade with his hands stretch out. A big NO NO! I called the shop in Puchong and ask them for a solution and they can only offer to ask us to bring it back and change the rod to a shorter one. 2 inch shorter only! That doesn't solve the problem too as we can't afford to have the fan installed with fear that it may drop. So we finally called the supplier's office, Alpha Singapore. They were friendly and very helpful in getting the matter solved. Otherwise, we would have to drive all the way back to Puchong just to have it changed!

Every single day seems to be filled with something for us to follow-up. With our neighbours being very unkind... we have to always be on the ball in order to avoid and complains.

Let's just hope for a better tomorrow. Can't wait for the day I can finally move in!

Updates April - May

With a blink of an eye, it's already end of May. 2 months have passed without much major happenings on the list. Yet, it's enough to kept me and hubby busy with endless googling and window shopping with nothing but one thing in mind.. BARGAINS!

On my previous post, we were still very undecisive on which contractor/ID company to engage for our house reno. Well, I still believe we have not taken enough thought and time to consider our choice. we have chosen "Greenwood Furnitures and Interior Designs" to be our renovator and boy... does the nightmare starts.

With a tight budget and a pretty fixed "move-in" date, we have our mission set to it. The whole idea was to renovate the house and move in before the 7th month starts. With a fixed budget rate and design in mind, there isn't much the renovator needs to do but to furnish and provide us with the things we want and requested for. Simple as that. No hidden corners, no suprises. However our dear ID guy still manage to twirl his way around us merely because WE have already signed on the dotted line. All promises seems to have slowly fade away.. one by one. Can you imagine your ID guy telling you "oh.. please remind me of the things that I have said/promised you.. I may forget"... (0_0) ... I got a shock when hubby told me that. Needless to say, I have put up a shield after that statement of his. True enough, he have failed to impress and is worst at being punctual.

Without having to say much.. it's a bloody nightmare! Everyday, we have to keep calling and reminding him of the outstanding matters and its really annoying!! I've heard numerous accounts about horrible contractors.. and now I have my own share of it too. Just as I thought things we getting better when we finally "started" the renovation works.. things come to a halt. After 2 days of work (hacking of the skirting) .. no other work has been done to the house. Today mark the 2nd week since the reno started and you can hardly see much about the schedule of work to it. I can't seem to come to a conclusion about why this is happening and dare not have a roll with them for the mighty fear of our dream home in custody. Patience is running dry and it's just a matter of time before world war 3 starts.

While all the above is happening, life still goes on for both of us. With targets to meet, deadlines to look at, we still find time for some bargain shopping and have a little fun with it.

Until the day we finally moved in, my nightmare will not stop and hopefully will not continue on. (-_-)

Updates Feb - March

To give ourselves a head start to the renovation ideas, we have started compiling our 2 years effort of loyal "Home & Decor" magazine and into our bible. Hubby was alittle reluctant to start as he reckons it will be tedious and tremendous work! We went on ahead anyway :p

As we are pretty sure of what we want in our designs, it wasn't really until lately that we manage to firm up on the actual theme and directions. Not easy at all. Being the fickle minded one, I sway from one theme to another until a point, vintage contemporary was what we have in mind. It doesn't really sounds right but in my head it's damn alright! You will just have to lived with it. As a matter of fact, design and taste are really.. really very subjective and lies on the eyes of the beholder. Some say nice while some shy away to even comment.

As both me and hubby anxiously waited for the day to claim the house our own, I was over joyed. So much so, I kept having sleepless nights thinking of what I can do with it. It's just too important to "sleep" it away. Needless for me to say the process of building the dream home didn't come easy with me being all "edgy". Anyway, we (or perhaps I should "I") survived the ordeal and successfully claimed our possession. Funny but the actual reality of "owning" it doesn't seem as exciting as "dreaming" about it.. or was it just me?

If you need to know, we have YET to confirmed on our contractor and sign on the dotted line. Revision after revision, disappointment after another, we did manage to narrow down to one. Only to know that another contractor which sort of gone MIA for a while came back with full force to "match" our pricing! How amazing is that? Now the competition starts.... will the last one standing please step forward. TQ

No doubt, time is on our side, just that the advantage is not ours to take. As soon as we have sorted out the necessary, it would be time to get it over and done with.

The big V day and other days..

The festivity mood has never dampen since CNY. Now that the big V day is over, we will be all out for a slow month ahead till the next public holiday comes.. Good Friday on April 10th.

None the less, both me and hubby still have things to look out for in the next few coming months.. Our new place on the 13th March ( Friday the 13th!), moving into our new place prob begining of May ( hopefully) and something in between them such as Bdays and anniversaries, etc etc etc.

Didn't blog much for the past month of so, as I was begining to slack on my own discipline of blogging being "compulsary" to now being just a "pastime". I know I know.. don't hate me. It's hard to concentrate when your room is in a mess and you can't seem to find the things you need when you need them. I'm easily irritated by things like this.. thats why I need a constant change rather than a rapid one.. they dun work well for me..

Spend the Vday weekend away with Hubby and the next 2 at home being sick.. sigh.. what a price to pay for enjoying myself... My mouth is still bland and tasteless to a point that water is a horrible drink! Yuck, puke puke!

I don't believe in all things superstitous, but then again, no harm knowing.. if all signs says that I must take care of my health..perhaps I should listen sometimes... hmmmmm

Lil' Twinkle~

An email came into my inbox today with the subject line as per my blog title. Of a glance I did not open it as I quickly assume its some cute emails from my cousin. Not wanting to wait for it to load up, I just left it there.

After lunch, I open my inbox again and the subject line just seems to cry out for me to open.. it's the only email I have not read. I am glad I did. It's actually an email from my beloved cousin whom they have set up an online webpage for lil' kiddies stuffs.. ITS SOO CUTE!!

I'm not doing this in hope to get the free "toddler safety harness backpack" but merely out of love and support. Besides, I don't even know who reads my blog :p

Anyway, here's the link http://www.lil2twinkle.blogspot.com/

They have everything a toddler would possibly need, fashion wise :)

As much as I am eager to be a patron myself... perhaps I will.. it seems like a pretty good buy for a gift too.

The blog is easy to search, plenty of selection to choose from, items are arrange according to category and prices are reasonable.. there's all to take and nothing to loose. Hmmm... if only I have such pretty blogs for my own products... *in deep thoughts*

None the less I have attached some screen shots of the web here.. have a look! You never know if you may find something you need there!

Making the difference

I realise how relatively mundane my life is everyday, Mon - Sun, 24 hours a day.

As I set this very moment, I wish to change my own thinking and ways to make everyday a brand new day. Not that its something new or a big resolution, but at least I should make up to what has passed me by.

Am I able to sustain what I have promised to myself? I hope so...

CNY is here soon

With just merely 2 weeks away, everyone is rushing for the CNY preparation.

Last weekend me and MT met up with Danny, Ling Ling and little Elsa together with Aunty Steph for Dim Sum at where else but Ah Yat. Manage to make a stop at Chinatown to grab a few goodies just before meeting them. The street is painted in red lanterns and festive deco.. a very warm and homely feel knowing CNY is just around the corner. Long queues waiting outside Lim Chee Guan's shop while the rest spread out to Fragrance and Bee Cheng Hiang's shop. With all the new flavours and packing, one cannot resist but to be carried away with alittle here and there.

Me and MT bought BBQ sliced pork (a.k.a Bak Kwa as they call it in S'pore), pork floss and some other goodies. $48 for a kilo of BBQ sliced pork! At least its still the same price as last year. Passed by some house decor and can't help but to think that this year's mascot, the BULL looks awfully similar to the PIG. Perhaps the cartoonish look of it makes all zodiacs look alike. I still prefer the good ol' decor... forever classic and never out of style :P

I have yet to start on the tid-bits corner.... yummmy~* melon seeds, sugar coated gummies, assorted cookies of shape, size and taste... i'm starting to drool as I think.. This year I am spared from all the CNY shopping as my MIL will be doing most of the necessary ones. However I am looking forward to visiting the orchard nearer to CNY for some fresh blooms :)

Haven't paid the bank a visit to get all the crisp clean bank notes.. I wonder if it will be too crowded if I delay abit more?

Happy New Year - 2009!

Happy New Year everyone..

2009 has started off with a BANG!

Am so happy that all the wedding prep is over and done now. Dad gave us all a short lecture on our family history and urge me and MT to start a family soon. Since my dad only had 2 children, so the possibility of our generation should either be 1 or none.. :p ( it even rhymes~) None the less, when the time comes, so does the baby... no hurry!

Talking about hurry, why am I feeling no urgency to welcome CNY at all? Is it true that the festive mood dies off as you aged? I still look forward to CNY though I have to start giving out angpows instead of collecting them now.. perhaps its the surrounding factors.. no decor, no songs, no festive cookies... none of them makes any day a dull day. This year will also be the 1st year that I will not be having reunion dinner in KL.. but another family awaits for me here in SG :)

Work is still pretty slow at the moment though some are trying to catch up lost time during the x'mas holidays and also to meet up before the CNY holidays. As usual, sitting next to my dear neighbour won't make my day any worse than it already is :p

Another week to go and we will be stepping in to another 1st for us.. our 1st home. Our appointment is set next Saturday and everything else will be history. My lease will end in March and the timing couldn't be more accurate than it already is.

Anyway, look out for more pics to come on Facebook!