USA 2009...

After 3 looong years, I am finally going back to USA once again! (GRIN~) Although I would love to return to Orlando (especially since I've 3 more day passes to Disney World!), I'm soooo excited just going back. The itinerary is a little bit tight as I will be squeezing in 3 different states (NYC, Boston & Toronto, yeah in Canada) and about 6 plane rides! Hee... no surprise, I'm tagging along Zim's work trip again!

Well, this time round, I am going to do things I didn't do previously! =D For starters, I'm going to catch Miami Heats live in action! And it's not just Miami Heats, it's Miami Heats vs Boston Celtics (SCREAMS~).. It's amazing how fanatic Zim and myself are. We actually booked 2 extra domestic flight, just to fly to and fro Boston to catch the game in action. In addition, we forfeited our chance to catch CATS in Singapore (oh well, at least we managed to sell our tickets) and a friend's wedding just to get our asses to the game! Not to mention that the tickets costs a whooping USD$120 each! But I know it's all gonnna be worth it... Dywane Wade~ Kevin Garnett.... drools~ Though my only regret is that I can't catch Kobe Bryant in LA. Damnit.



Next on my list is American Museum of National History in NYC! It was a pity that we didn't visit it while I was in NYC in 2006. But I was really attracted to it after watching "Night in the Museum". Thus, this is a MUST go this time round for me. Hope it's as good as it appears!



Of course I am also going to catch a couple of musicals.. for dirt cheap prices I hope. =P I'm deciding between "Hairspray", "Wicked" and "Lion King".. Geesh...And and and...Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, Victoria Secrets and American Eagle are also a MUST!!!!!!!

Geesh... my excitment is cooking up!!! Plus, heard from Zim that the weather in Toronto is single digit degree!!!! I love cold weather!!!! OMG, Just 10 more days to go..Can you believe it?!

Top of my wish list...

I was first introduced to the idea of a portable bookreader (aka Kindle) by Zim's friend last year. It was quite an interesting idea and I was somewhat tempted by it and of cos, Zim (being the bookworm) seemed to like it. I was contemplating getting it for him for last x'mas (and of cos, use it myself), but gave up on the thought after we had a "Let's not spend too much since we are getting married" talk. Pretty much tossed the idea aside and kinda forgotten all about it.

Seems like Amazon just bought me over once again after they came up with version 2 of kindle. It's so damn chic! Geesh, I can't believe that I'm such a huge sucker for WHITE IT gadgets! The new Kindle is sooooo gorgeous.... *drools* Looks aside, this gadget is pretty cool. By uploading books onto it, it allows you to carry books around (without having to worry that the book is too heavy or that the book will get dog ears if you force it in your bag). Definitely something I would want to get when I travel around. Guess one main reason why I would love to get my hands on it is that I want to ensure that I actually read enough. I would love to read more than what I am actually reading. Seemed like I only finished no more than books for the whole of last year! Pathetic indeed.

SIgh, and of course, stylish gadgets = BIG hole in pocket. Kindle 2 costs about USD359.. so pocket unfriendly. =(

Oh well, I'm sure I will get over it... soon...=/
oh my kindle~

I love HOUSE...

Belated Vday Post...

While Zim and myself don't have the habit of celebrating Vday (let's say we have decided not to succumb to the commercialization of Valentine's day after an awful experience in our first year together), we still kept the gift exchange aspect alive. Pardon my lack of creativity, and due to lack of time, I simply popped by City Chain during lunch one day and bought Zim his very first titus watch.
Price aside, Zim seems to like it. At least he's wearing it often enough.. ^_^

As for his present to me, well, it wasn't exactly a surprise since I explicitly asked for it and he ordered it in front of me.
It's my very own Hana Yori Dango DVD! Looking at the disc really brings back many fond memories of my secondary school days. I remember sitting in front of the TV at 6.30pm sharp every week day when I was in Secondary 4 just to watch the anime on channel 56. I remember tossing the pillow at the TV each time the episode ends. I remember how I got so addicted to it that there was NOTHING that could keep me away from TV then.

On top of that, my brother was really sweet when he actually bought me the full comic set (it was till book 20 then) for my next birthday. And I remember how I painstakingly followed the comic series for the next 6 years, how happy I was when a new book arrived and how agonizing it was waiting for the next to come. I remember how I cried and how my heart aches when I read certain parts of the story. Lastly, I also remember how empty it felt when the comic series ended too. Guess it's quite evident since I was never quite able to find another comic series that I'm that addicted to. Pity all the drama series really didn't do the comic any justice. It's a MUST to read the comics if you are a fan of the TV series. It's the BEST!

The thing is... this 3 DVDs are only 3 out of 10! Hee, can't wait till I have the full collection in my hands!

Extraction..

Under the persuasion of the handsome dentist, I decided to extract my (RHS) wisdom teeth (up and down) before they gave me any problems. Pain aside, it's also a way for me to get a break from work. I got MC for one day!

After this extraction, I really admire dentists. I can't imagine performing any of the cleaning of teeth/extraction with the patient staring right at me. It's weird to close my eyes while the dentist is performing his task, so all I could do is stare back. Not to mention that a person can only open his mouth to a certain extent, so the space constraint is definitely another challenge. Well, that aside, I was quite amused watching him "wank" out my tooth one after the other. Best of all, he kinda scared me when he asked me to raise my hand should the pain be unbearable. =/ Turned out that there was no pain at all. (At least not during the extraction!) Now that the anesthetic and painkillers have worn off, the pain is quite annoying. =( Haven't had a decent meal since the extraction.

Sigh, the handsome dentist went on to highlight another problem that I'm having. He suspected that I have been grinding my teeth in my sleep. Hm, guess this explains why there was a point of time when my teeth kept chipping. Hm, scary, maybe I should considering wearing a night guard to preserve my teeth.... Sigh, which also means more cost and more discomfort. Shit.

Anyway, the dentist gave me back my teeth as souvenirs. Erm... duh.. looks too gross for me to put it under my pillow. No way man~

Happy House Warming Gift...

Finally had our first official house warming! Zim and I finally decided to invite the basketballers to our sty after 2 months. (Guess it's about time we had our annual gathering anyway.) It was really nice to have all of them over! Best of all, we received one great Housewarming gift!

Yes! It's "Guitar Hero World Tour" for our PS3! Fantastic game, though I kinda pity my neighbours after we got hooked on this. =P

Superb game! (Though I don't know most of the songs. =P)
Guess it was so good that even the little pigs wanna try!
Seems like Ah Ping got a little bit too ambitious and decided to try out the drums. I must admit, drums are significantly harder! Definitely require more coordination! Hm, guess for now, Zim will be the drummer while I remain the guitarist. As for the pigs, maybe they can try singing... ^_^

My new hobby...

Addicted to online shopping recently!!!

Clothes from American Eagle! (Hee, 4 out of 5 pieces belong to me!) Though it's quite a risk guessing the sizes, the clothes still turn out amazing! Love them!

Amazon.com rocks! I paid just SGD50 for CSI and I finally bought my first season of House!!!

Wished shopping in Singapore was as good. Oh well, shall indulge in a shopping trip once in a few months! (Sadly, my paycheck doesn't quite support this hobby.)

Restoration... completed!

Yap, it's finally completed!

Feels good to be able to walk around barefooted and I sure hope the tiles stick.

*fingers crossed!*

Quarter-Life Crisis...

Such blog entry comes once a year, always when I hit a plateau somewhere in my life. In case you are wondering, nope, I'm doing great relationship-wise. I mean, I'm happily married, own my own little sty, blissful and best of all, childless. What's more can I ask for in this aspect.

So, of course there's always a reason why this blog comes. (Partly, because SCV finally cancelled all my free channels, so yes, I'm bored.) I recall an entry I did previously where I listed 5 short term goals I want to achieve. It has been almost 2 years and geesh, I only achieved one (the easiest of course). Good or bad? I'm not sure. But one thing I am sure, is I still do not know what I want in life.

Guess what really triggered this blog is envy. Recently, I had the privilege to speak to two really passionate friends. While we are of the same age, they are really different from me - they are working towards a direction, a passion in life. The ironic thing was, both of them are working towards getting a diploma/degree in social work. In contrast, here I stand, a social work major graduate, still confused.

I'm envious.

I'm also starting to panic, wondering why others are able to find their directions in life yet I am still aimless. It feels like I'm living day to day, just counting down to fridays (bball day!) and weekends (a break from work), stuck in a job that does not satisfy me and via versa and it's a total drag and rather depressing too.

I'm just not satisfied. While it's easy to grumble and complain, it takes a lot to move on, and I just don't have the strength and courage. Sadly, I'm stuck in the life of an ordinary person - a person that is bounded by responsibilities, paychecks and expectations from others. Plus, I don't even know what I want, how to move? Or rather, where to move to.

Guess I just don't have that luxury.

Hope you're better off than me. =/

My newest Stitch...

Thanks Zim!

I'm still not too sure if it's a dog or a cat though. Hm...

Ah Ping's New Friend!

Don't they just look so sweet?

Happie Pigs..

While KeY got badly hit by Lunar New Year, thanks to her 'improved' status, the pigs got it real good.

Guess Auntie Loo really misses them since we moved out. They bloody got $12 each from her this year! A 500% increase from last year. (the poor pigs usually only get 2 bucks.)

oh well, good for them...

Expensive New Year

Sigh. Not a very happy New Year. Now I'm finally feeling the pinch of new year. =( Zim and myself were just done with packing ang baos and seriously, it was NOT fun at all - especially when you see your money go into packets and packets.

I don't think I'm exactly the stingy sort. It's just that, it actually comes up to quite a significant sum of money. Of course, there are other ways to spend that money. So much for newly weds getting immunity for the first year. My ass~

I'm seriously considering going abroad for new year next year. I would rather spent the money on ourselves than give it away like water. (Though I'm guilty for collecting ang baos for all these years. =P) Geesh, maybe I should be 看得开一点 and not be bothered by the money. =(

Now I am full of admiration of married couples and I really appreciate them for all the ang baos they have given me over the years. (And it's payback time.) Wonder when I would stop feeling the pitch....

Hm, grumbled a bit to my mom just now. And her response was ..."去生一个吧".

Duh~ my favourite line as usual - who says being married was easy.

Anyway, Happy Lunar New Year....

Reconstruction...

And the reconstruction begins.
Seriously, it's as if I'm staying in a one-room flat. Best of all, it's not even an ensuite one. =/ While all the tiles were finally removed, it came with a huge price - dust. Everything is covered in dust! (Poor ping and pong had to hide under the comforter to avoid the dust!)

Sigh, another 4 more days to go. Can't wait till I can walk around my house barefooted again.

Plus, I just learnt that it will be better if we repaint our whole living room, thanks to the hacking and dust. Best of all, we were informed by our contractor that we need to bear the cost. I'm wondering if we could charge HDB on this too. SUCKS!

=(

Aftermath...

Had to wake up early (despite sleeping at 3am, thanks to playing the computer game!) to wait for the HDB contractor. He promised to come between 9 to 10am and he did. Well, he arrived at 9.55am! (TMD! I could have done with 1 more hour of good sleep!)
Anyway, at least he did removed the erupted tiles, after a lot of knocking! To cover the cemented area of removed tiles, he simply just laid cupboard across the living room. duh~

How pretty~

Earthquake...

Apparently HDB decided to give us a wedding gift - A Brand New Set of Floor tiles... How sweet indeed..

Came home to a living room with erupted tiles after a short trip to the bank. It appeared as if an earthquake had occurred and 50% of our tiles popped out! Quite awesome actually. I was initially really amused and found it darn hilarious. The tiles would shriek whenever I stepped on it. (Guess the weight didn't help either) LOL, after some calls and waiting, we managed to get an officer who came by to check out the tiles and announced that we will be getting replacement tiles for the whole living room! Cool~

We were really convinced that the floor was going to collapse and refused to move beyond the comforts of the kitchen. (Didn't want the ceiling to go crashing on our downstairs neighbour!) However, the HDB contractor came and exclaimed that it was a small matter. Erm, didn't appear that small to us. To convince us, he started jumping on several of the tiles, commenting that it was fine. (Well, he kinda broke a couple of tiles in the process!)

While it was pretty scary, it was sorta of a blessing in disguise, cos, WE ARE GETTING NEW TILES! Woohoo~ minus the hassle of shifting our furniture, taking leave and of cos, clearing up.

Lucky or not?

The morning..

Just a quick blog before i put on my mask...

Anxious? Somewhat. Annoyed? Yes. LOL. Expectedly, I was unable to sleep last night, tho I did managed to catch some quick wink. Mom's tossing and turning didn't help at all of cos. Woke up with an awful headache and was abit annoyed with my mom's initial arrangement for the makeup process. Oh well, at least she managed to resolve it before it was too late. First hiccup of the day - SOLVED~

It's amazing how brides can still look so happy and recharged on their wedding day. I'm definitely feeling like shit right now. Can't wait till the day is over, smoothly of course.

Hm, hope things go better for the rest of the day. SIgh, I'm barely able to open my eyes now. (Hm, quite impressed by how i can still put on the contacts tho.) Just had a quick run through of the itinerary. Found out that I kinda missed out on a couple of items. (oops..) Shall rectify it along the way today la...

Good luck KeY!

2 days away

Hm, yap, it's almost here. And since i'm blogging this entry, it definitely means that the wedding is not off.

I'm not sure if this can be considered as wedding jitters, but I don't deny that I'm starting to worry. The main worry that's hanging in my head, is whether our friends/relatives will enjoy the evening. While I'm not out to try to please everyone, I do wish that at least someone (or rather, a handful) would enjoy the night and say "Wow, this is definitely one of the nicest wedding I've attended.". Maybe I'm expecting a bit too much, but after all the planning and time we spent (Okay, think Zim spent more, =P), I do hope things turn out as I had imagined.

Seriously, I wasn't expecting the whole process to be so draining and rough. But I do hope that after the event, I would feel that it's worth it. *Fingers crossed*

Of course, I'm really thankful for the friends who volunteered their help and those whom we conveniently arrowed to help.

With this, I guess I will just breathe in and pray that things will go just fine. =)

Ah Ping Loves Ponyo

The wedding is ALMOST off.

I'm this close to calling the wedding off, seriously.

As beautiful and happy as it seems on the wedding night, the road to getting there is not easy. And I have ran out of patience. Patience in trying to sort things out with Zim, patience in handling our moms and patience in everything else related to the wedding.

It's annoying when my mom is breathing down my neck asking for this and that. Seriously, things that are low in my priority list at this point of time. I mean, I'm the bride here and I'm not even panicking, why the hell is she screaming at me for this and that.

Seriously, I totally regret the whole decision for a wedding dinner, I should have just settled for a bloody simple ROM and be done with it.

At least I need not spend the last week of my singlehood arguing with them.

Not happy, at all.

New Year Resolutions?

Read through a couple of friends' blogs and suddenly realised that New Year = Time to make new Resolutions! LOL, interestingly, I have totally forgotten about it! Guess I'm too preoccupied with other matters to even remember! Now that I did, let me just list a few to keep myself a little more motivated for 2009!

(1) Be a good wife
How? God knows. Okay, let's see. I will try to not bully Zim as much, to be nicer to him and erm, stop making him do all the household chores!

(2) Hang on to my Job
I initially gave myself 2 years. After a huge setback during the 6-month mark, I halved the target (just one year!). But with the current situation (housing loan, utilities bills, economic recession), erm, maybe I'll stick to the initial plan. (Sucks~) Thank god things are getting better at work too.

(3) Do a Layup during Basketball
I think I'm pretty decent under the net. But I just need to have more confidence in dribbling the ball and doing a layup! Shall spend more time improving and I shall achieve this by end 2009!!

(4) Cook and Bake like Jamie Oliver!
I wanna cook and bake like a chef! (Okay, be REALISTIC!) I just wanna whip up a decent meal and dessert without the help of Zim or a cookbook! Make him go "wah~" and crave for more! After all, the key to a man's heart is to conquer his stomach!

(5) Meet Daniel Wu

This is like on my new year resolution list every single bloody year! So far, no luck. TMD. 

Well, good luck and we'll see how I do on 31st December 2009!

Happy 2009 btw~ =)

7 days to go...

Just 7 more days to go. Oops~

Well, matters settled~ :

1) Wedding invites - We started handling out the cards really late, just two weeks prior our wedding! Thank god most of our friends were still able to attend! Guess we took a bit more time to make the cards than we expected. But at least it was worth the effort!! Did get quite some praises from the recipients (maybe they were just being nice~ =P)!

2) Florist - Thanks CY for her recommendation and co-ordination! We managed to settle the florist (Secret Garden by Jane) quickly! And, it's all within our relatively tight budget. Colour theme has been decided - Flowers will be a mixture of white, champagne and pastel purple! Though I'm not too sure what sort of flowers they will be using (well, no surprise, since I'm never a flower person to begin with), but I'm sure it will look just great!

3) Food tasting~ Yummy yummy (will update a separate post on this~)! For the curious people, our caterer is 1827!

4) Final Fitting - This is kinda embarrassing to mention, but I ended up having to enlarge my evening gown cos I, erm, put on some weight. =P But at least it's done and I no longer have to fret or stress about losing weight!! Susan and Euzart, from Jawn.Happy.Ever. After, are superb and really helpful! Thank god for them!! My conclusion is, it's definitely worth the $$ spent!

5) Pre-Wedding Photo Album - It's gorgeous! I love love love it! Can't wait to see the effects for the actual day! (Thanks Terry from OneEyeClick!)

6) Wedding Favors - After some amount of debating and scouting, we finally mentioned to find the RIGHT wedding favors - ******** (keeping some suspense). Thanks to Zim's colleague, Innocent (From Gobi!) for the special rate that kept it within our budget and I just can't wait to give them out!

7) Wedding Cake - Yes, we are having a 3-tier wedding cake! And it's a 100% real cake (Not the weird dummy cake at last). Thanks to Qian's recommendation. We got it from Pine Garden! The best part of all, each tier is of a different flavour! So make sure you get a bite from each of the tier, specially tasted and selected by Zim & KeY!

The not so good part now:

Matters arising -

1) Wedding Itinerary - Though we are just a week away, we have yet to sit down to work out the actual programme. (Guess I wasn't really in the 'wedding' mood especially after all the naggings from Mums from both sides) Well, we better settle it this weekend, by hook or by crook!

2) Wedding Band - Thanks to Kitty, we will be getting her friend's band to perform at a special rate! But, now it's the tough part! I'm thinking of giving the wedding a jazzy and lounge touch, yet I want to include some playful tunes to spice up the event! (And of course, a couple of chinese songs!) So, it's selection time.. Help~ Sissy!

3) Arts House - Guess Me and Zim got too excited and kinda over-invited. (Oopsy~) We stretched our initial guest list of 200 to erm, about 270! Oops~ can't help that we are popular~ =P But the main concern now is whether there will be ample space for our guests to move around. So, think we needa meet up with Lynne from arts house asap to settle the space issues.

4) Helpers - Managed to get my beloved sistas and brother and Sangee & CY to help out. The funny part is, I'm not too sure what responsibilities they have! LOL, guess this will fall in place after we settle the itinerary.

5) Wedding Vows - huh? We'll come to it eventually. LOL. I thought I only need to say "I do"?

At least we still have one more week to sort out all these outstanding issues. But it's starting to get a little scary! (Paranoid KeY @ work) I'm worrying that things might not go as planned! Thank god Zim seems alot more confident than I am. Sigh, Can't wait till the wedding is finally over!!!!!!!!!

Almost there.. just 7 more days!!!

First Entry from our Sty

Hee, just a quick one before Zim starts nagging. =P

Officially moved in to our new home on 19 Dec 2008! Hooray! (Yap, we are cohabiting right now. LOL) Anyway, so far so good. Still in the midst of unpacking, but seriously, it's quite tiring.

At least all our furniture and things are in and we are pretty well equipped with what we need to get by. And, we have our first group of guests!!! LOL, my dearest sistas were of course our most honorable guests, being the first 2 to grace our sty! (Ray ray ah, till next time ba?) Though it's still alittle dusty, it sure didn't stop us in our usual game of MJ! Stupid Zim cheated our $$ again! Hmph~

Hm, guess I better get back to washing dishes for now... =( Shall post some pictures soon!!!

Our very own Sty

Renovations had finally come to an end and it's officially time for us to start moving bits and pieces of items into our new sty! It's quite amazing how fast time flies. Just a while ago, I was still fretting that it was taking forever for HDB's appointments to arrive and when we got the keys, I was dragging about how long the whole renovation period would take. And now, here we are, almost ready to move in.

Honestly, it's scary how many things we need to buy (and how much we need to spend) for a brand new house. While we take these things we have at home for granted, we now have to cautiously think about what are the items we need and how much are we willing to spend on them.

I used to imagine that when the contractor hands over the flat, it will be in move in condition - all u have to do is get your furniture and just move in. Boy, was I wrong. There were TONS of things to be done!!!! It all begins with serious cleaning up! (Ultra killer and tiring, but thankfully most done by Zim! But I did do my part wor~ =P). Followed by shopping for furniture and household items! After buying the items, we had to make numerous trips to drop it off at our new sty as well as spend days just waiting for our furniture to arrive and for the contractor to touch up on certain items. Then, more time is needed to unpack the items, figure out how they work and where to store them. (My main responsibility is to fill up all warranty cards and to mail them out while Zim does the assembling work of course!) Scary isn't it...

But still, the feeling of having our own place is really good! Especially when most of the items here were chosen personally by both of us. Though we are still missing a bed and sofa (erm, due to some delays at the shop's end), the house feels almost complete and we are both really excited about moving in and starting a life together!

Our official move in date is set to be on 19 December 2008. (Well, superstitious or not, we (Read: Our MOTHERS) have choosen an auspicious date for us to move in..)

For now, it's still a little bit of a mess...
But, it's OUR very own sty nonetheless...

My very first Jersey!

Represented Customs in the Public Service Star Basketball Games! My very first time playing in a REAL basketball match! Honestly, I really enjoyed the feeling of playing competitively.. totally reminded me of my days playing competitive sports!

Surprisingly, I was actually able to hang on throughout the 40 minutes match! (Well, did have a couple of short breaks in between of course. =P)


Best part of participating, (besides getting the kicks of playing a full court match) is that I get to have my very own Jersey!!! Got to choose my own number too - number 26 of course! =)

Well, though we lost the 1st match (didn't think I played very well either, =P) and I had to pull out of the 2nd match (due to my bai-kar-ness), I really enjoyed the experience and now I'm a little addicted to playing full court matches. Maybe I should consider playing competitive basketball for clubs. But again, my skills levels ain't quite there yet. Hm, oh well, shall spend a few months brushing it up and maybe by then, I can give it more thoughts...

Hee, back to the bball court this friday!!
(shall sneak a few more sessions before I retire for the wedding...) ^_^

Our Wedding - The making of the invites...

Let me introduce to you the factory line in charge of making Zim & KeY's Wedding Invites... *drum rolls*

Raw Materials were handpicked at several shops and purchased personally by Master KeY over a course of 1 month. After placing the raw materials in the storage space for a couple of months while the masters experimented with different prototypes, the masters finally decided on THE design (with approval from international credentials) after numerous attempts. The raw materials had been delivered to the factory the day before!

Factory line begins with Master Zim, who is responsible for cutting the strips of words with precision and accuracy. (With the help of a slicer of course!) Master Zim, who is young for his age, can actually cut 16 strips in just 10 minutes! (Wooooow~) A true master indeed.. shi fu~

Once the strips are nicely sliced, QC is done by Master Pong, who quickly glances through the stripes, eliminating failed samples. Small as he seems, Master Pong has the sharpest eyes of his traits and can identify the smallest tear/cut with his power glance. A highly sought after master of his kind. (Each failed strip = 5 cents off Zim's pay)

Affer QC is done, Master KeY then proceeds to painstakingly glue each strip to the base of the cards. Master KeY, aka sticky hands, can stick 1 strip in just 30 seconds, a whooping 10 seconds faster than her peers! The downside unfortunately, is that Master KeY suffers from finger-cramps due to the squeezing of the glue tube and has to take rests quite frequently~ =P

Last in the line, is Master Ping, aka Counter Ping. Despite his tiny size (in contrast to the cards!) Master Ping can count up to 100 in just 20 seconds! Master Ping is best known for his silent counting - Doing all this counting just with his little paws and little brain!! You won't even realise he is there! Definitely a silent killer~

Definitely a gathering of Masters of the Masters!

FYI - the cards are just 40% done.. The masters got kinda tired and called it a day.. Till next weekend la~

Starbucks Experience..

Apparently there are two starbucks in Raffles city. Decided to pop by the ulu-er one today after an hour of hectic and brain-draining shopping.

Interestingly, the store was only 40% occupied and there were tons of comfortable couches left for us to take our pick. Found a comfortable spot quickly and sent Zim to order the famous New York Cheesecake to soothe my always-existing craving. Disappointingly, cheese cakes were out-of-stock! (wtf) Nevermind, sent Zim to order a Carrot cake, my always-2nd-existing craving. Once again, it was not available. (wtf)

Was a little annoyed and decided to check out what actually WAS available. I walked over to the counter and saw only 3-4 selection of cakes available, settled for a "Warm Chocolate Lava Cake" and sent Zim to make payment. I was momentarily satisfied and headed back to wait for the cake.

Turned out that the cake was served cold (Hard with 'frozen' lava that did not flow). WTF~ So, I got Zim to once again return to the counter and to request for the cake to be warmed. Apparently, we were supposed to inform the counter if we wanted to warm the cake, if we don't, they will just serve it cold. -_-"

Kinda silly isn't it. Why was it called "WARM chocolate lava cake" if we needed to request to warm it up?

Bullshit.

Poor Selection + Lousy Service = Empty Starbucks...

Bai-Kar KeY....

=/

Injured KeY...

Yap again... =(

Was playing bball last fri and sadly, less than 20 mins into the game, I KO-ed. Ended up spraining my supposedly good [left] ankle and bruising my right shin quite badly. Pain aside, I was really disappointed.

Two main reasons.. firstly, because being injured meant that I won't be able to play during the Customs bball match on this coming thursday, something I was really looking forward too. Secondly, it also meant that I need to retire from bball for a while and it's really disappointing as I feel that I'm currently improving tremendously and have the potential to do even better. Prior to this injury, I was even considering playing competitively for outside clubs. Guess all these have to be put on hold.

Road to recovery is awful.. the numerous trips to the Sinseh (That really really really hurts! Painful to my wallet too but thank god for insurance!), the constant pain of walking up and down the stairs and the terribly slow speed i walk. The worst part of all, is the itch of my fingers and feet for bball~ Noooooooooooooooooo~

Oh well, will concentrate on healing my ankle first...

Till then...
2 more weeks of bandage...
4 more torturous visits to the 'Tie Da' Sinseh

Sneak Preview...

Journey to becoming Mrs Lim

Well, work aside, at least some parts of my life are still going smoothly (and blissfully too!). Phew~ Wedding shoot went really well (very unglam, but good)! Thank god for good weather~ We are still waiting for the selection of the photos, seriously hoping that at least some of the photos look good! (Please make me look Skinnier~ Please...)

A little slack on the preparation of the wedding dinner, but I think we are still on track! I'm still short of a florist, a wedding cake and wedding favours. Wedding invitations are, erm, 2% done? Wedding guest lists are still pending. Food tasting to be confirmed...Nice isn't it? LOL, I'm pretty sure I have everything under control... (erm, it's just 2 months away, fyi)

Hm, as for our sty (shall refer it to sty, since sty is what ping and pong calls home)... construction work has since begun and is expected to be completed by 1st week of dec! Furniture shopping is 70% done!! Well, while the hole in our pocket is ridiculously big at this point of time, it sure was a great deal of fun shopping for things (tho, the decision making aspect was quite a headache!). We are still short of a few pieces of furniture.. but at least we still have some time to search for it! On an interesting note, I never quite realised how expensive SCV and internet connection can be... I really should stop taking those at home for granted!

So far so good isn't it?

12th May 2009

Hitting a plateau at work. Boss is constantly picking on me, partly because of the silly mistakes I have been committing (Feels like he's picking on practically EVERYTHING he can), partly because of god-knows-what. The job started off pretty good, but somehow, I just lost control overnight and things just spiral downwards. My 6-monthly apprasial didn't turn out too well either... but again, I don't really care~

Feeling ultra demoralised and low confidence. It's like, I feel that I can't even do a simple thing without worrying about what his reaction is going to be, how sacrastic his next comment might be or what he is going to find fault in next anymore.

I'm totally convinced that I am not going to be confirmed after 1 year (whatever~). In fact, I'm all ready to throw in the letter anytime, but I just want to keep the promise I made to myself - that I will at least stay for one full year. I'm 50% done.

Hang in there KeY!!!

Though work really sucks, I am quite blessed with great colleagues who are really supportive and encouraging, always there to share their experiences and advices with me and of course, fight with me hand-in-hand. I'm also really sorry that I drag them down at times too.

On another note, I'm confused about what I should. Confused about why I can't just do a good job and confused about what I want to do.. (deep inside, I just want to be a taitai and leech off Zim....but... oh well) Shall spend the next 6 months figuring something out as well as steer clear of my boss..

Just 6 more months...

House Accessories Shopping..(Part 1)

Spent our whole saturday afternoon shopping for housing accessories...

Started off with the selection of tiles for toilets and the kitchen at a shop along balestier. Somehow, we managed to choose the tiles that we liked that was within the budget. (hooray!) Best of all, we were done within an hour.

Followed our contractor to his supplier's shop at Joo Chiat area after that. Our contractor actually drives a chio yellow Mitsubishi Evo!!! Imagine our pathetic Nissan sunny following behind him.. He did zoom by a couple of times wor. How sad. LOL.

Went on to the accessories shop for us to shop for toilet and kitchen accessories. It's scary how much there was to consider just to decide on what to purchase. Not only must we think of the kind of sink we wanted to get, we had to match the right tap to it, erm round sink supposed to be matched with a round tap.. erm... (OMFG). After choosing the tap, we had to decide on the toilet bowls. (One stoopid bowl costs $220!!!! ) Once the selection was done, we had to choose the shower taps. (NOT CHEAP either.. costs about $300+ for a complete shower set.) After all these, we had to choose the toilet accessories.. the towel bars, the glass shelves, blah blah blah.

Kitchen accessories also almost killed us. We had to decide on the sink, the tap (AGAIN), the oven and the stove. Turned out that we couldn't have a 4-stove ceramic or induction hob as the power volt of the HDB flat is unable to support it. (erm, apparently, it will trip if we use more than 2 of the hobs at any point of time), hence we ended up with the combination of a 2-cooker stove and 2-hob ceramic plate. Best buy of the day was the Ariston oven! Can't wait till we can start using it!

Finally.. managed to settle everything after almost 3 hours! (Our poor contractor, despite running a fever, had to sit around and wait for us to finish selecting.) Well, definitely a huge relief that we were finally done! (my head was spinning, stomach growling...) The bill came up to be within our budget (hooray again!) and we were very satisfied with what we have chosen! Hope everything turn out just fine during installation...Was so tired that I completely zonked out on the journey back...

^_^

Part 2 of shopping trip will resume in two weeks.. to shop for lights for the house... Till then...

Bridal Shoot..

I can't wait till friday is over... At least that means I can stop watching my diet and stop abstaining from certain types of food.. (Think cheesecake.... chocolate cake... rice.. ).. for a while before 10 Jan approaches..

Honestly, I have never been so stressed about my weight. While I might have gone on diet every now and then, I wasn't exactly stressed over my progress.. and didn't really bother me if I lost or gained any weight. Didn't even bother abstaining from food, but instead just exercise more to compensate.

Been quite a torture for the past month. Though I have not purposely gone on diet either, I have a constant nagging voice in my mind telling me that I cannot put on weight, cannot/shouldn't eat this. And it really sux. I actually feel guilty for eating certain food and sometimes just kinda blame myself for eating something I could have done without.

Best of all, I didn't exactly lose any weight.. tmd...Well, it's not really about the effects of the shots. It's more for the worry that I cannot fit into the made to measure gowns... Sigh~

Not happy. Really dislike this kind of life.. so I'm actually looking forward to the end of all these. =( Looking forward to when I can go for buffets, go and eat what I like and not be stressed by the consequences.. Put on weight, nevermind, just work it off overtime.

Almost there...

LA Ink...

Been watching LA Ink every night for the past few nights.. Found it quite addictive and interesting actually..

Just a little background...
LA Ink is a reality show that shows the events of a tattoo studio in LA called "High Voltage tattoo". It's actually a spin-off from the original series, "Miami Ink". While I haven't caught much episodes of Miami Ink, I prefer LA Ink as most of the tattoo artists are female, pretty cool huh? The shop is owned by Kat Von (above) and managed by artists Corey Miller, Hannah Aitchison, Kim Saigh, and Kat's best friend Pixie.

What i liked about the show is that it gives me a different insight as to why people want tattoos. While many foolish teenages in Singapore go for it for really silly reasons, customers in the show get tattoos because of personal reasons that can be quite touching at times. There were a couple of customers who tattooed the portrait of deceased next-of-kin as a way of remembering them. (One was a Dad who tattooed the picture of his 3 year old daughter who passed away.. =( ). Sad, but sweet...

Makes me wonder... if ah ping or ah pong disappears one fine day, maybe i can get their pictures tattooed somewhere to remember them forever.... (well, Zim gave me a disgusted look when i mentioned this.. guess I can pretty much gauge the amount of support I am going to get from him.. =P)..

Just a penny of my thought lah....

2nd Appointment...

WE GOT OUR KEYS!!! (and yes, I really mean K-E-Y-S-s-s-s-s-s-s)


I've no idea which key does what, but oh well, we'll figure it out ... somehow...

Want some dessert?

Macaroons anyone?

Nope.. I did not bake them (unfortunately...) but they rock!

yummilicious.. =P

Guest List..

It's a complete headache deciding my guest list... Due to constraints (we wanted to keep it small and simple) and the fact that I've a ton of relatives (63 to be exact), I am unable to invite everyone I wanted to or rather, I should.

Initially, I thought that I probably don't have alot of friends, just a few selective group of friends that I bothered to hang out with.. But after doing some head count, it turns out that i've actually burst my quota.... So the tough part begins - the process of cutting the guest list.

A wedding planning book I borrowed from the library gave the advice that you should invite friends of the future, not the past. Invite people whom you will keep in contact with, not people whom u shared a past with and probably nothing in the present. Keeping this in mind, I did indeed manage to cut my guest list significantly.

There are a couple of names that I am still pondering about. A part of me says "cut", yet the other part says "keep". At least I have till the end of Oct to think about it. Maybe I will be able to make a firm decision by then, and hopefully, stick to it...

Our Wedding Shoot...

Met up with our Photographer, Terry to discuss our pre-wedding shoot. Lazy KeY didn't keep up with her schedule and we ended up meeting Terry two weeks later than we were supposed to. =P Luckily not much damage was done. Phew~

Well, we were supposed to come up with about 3 photoshoot locations but only managed to come up with two after some discussions - Arts House (our wedding venue) and Boat Quay (one of our first dates) before meeting Terry. Turns out that two locations were insufficient and we needed to come up with a couple of more significant places. After some brainstorming, we actually managed to come with up with a few more locations (Make a guess?) and I'm starting to get excited about how the photos will turn out! ^_^

Best part of all, we are involving my two little pigs!!!

Stay tune for the effects!!!!

Car or No Car?

Dad gave an attractive offer a couple of weeks ago. He offered to sponsor us 50% of the cost of a car for downpayment. O_o

Tempting indeed.

Despite the tempting offer, believe it anot, I'm still rather apprehensive about sealing the deal. Even with the help from dad, me and Zim still need to fork up more than $800 per month just for car expenses such as HDB parking ($90!), office parking ($85), petrol, road tax, insurance, servicing, blah blah blah...Quite a burden indeed. It kinda makes me wonder how the other people on the roads afford to support a car.

Feedback from friends varied quite a bit. Though most are inclined towards the "don't buy" side. Zim has personally given the green light, but I'm still abit worried that we might be asking for more than we can handle.

Sigh, got some thinking to do....

Low on $$...

Geesh.. was supposed to be blogging some updates tonight, until i saw my credit card bills. There goes my blogging mood. =/

Being lazy, I stopped tracking my spending for the past 3 weeks. What a huge mistake! Although I kinda expected that I've overspent this month (thanks to my insurance premium..), I was still surprised to learn that I've actually overspent by quite a bit.

Sigh... lesson 1. ALWAYS keep track of your spending...

Time to put in some effort and time to sort things out...

Happy Birthday to Me...

Birthday this year was simple. Nice and quiet. Quite a contrast from the bday party I had last year, but still, I actually do like it. Just a simple day, resting at home, having meals with family. No birthday cakes, no fuss, just a quiet day for me to rest and recuperate. Nice~

On top of it, I received a few presents that I adore...

From my best buds at work - CC club!!!!
Scrapbook-style bday card!
Nice focus on me huh.... KeY's signature mouth.


From my work colleagues!

Ended off with a yummy KFC lunch treat! Thanks peeps.

From Me to Me... =)

Just a sneak preview... (cos the pictures are in my camera....=/) Actually, Dad n Mom sponsored it, I just decided on what to spend it on... and this is it!

From Zim to me:
Zim gave me a really sweet present..shall reveal it on a later date since the pics are on my other camera

From Sistas to me:
Harvey Norman vouchers that would come in ultra handy in a couple months' time!! (AND..This is a HUGE sign that shows that I'm growing old... lol...)

Last but not least,

happy birthday to me! ^_^

Mess..

I was just standing around in my study room, looking for a bag of ribbons I recall seeing a couple of days ago and I just could not stand the mess! OMG. I cannot believe how much stuff I've on my table.

URGH!!!! *pulls her hair and screams~*

Totally frustrating that I was sooooo tempted to start packing. Managed to restrained myself in the end. Phew~ (or else, once I start, I can't stop!!)

It's time I really put in my heart and soul into packing that shit hole. And this time, I must complete it!!!!!

*Determined look*

(Shall spare u guys the agony of seeing how messy it is since Zim kidnapped my camera....)

Contractor Scouting...

Wedding preparations are falling in place in bits and pieces. While we are right on track (and a little ahead on several aspects), we now face the most challenging task in our wedding - Scouting for THE ONE contractor. It's interesting how diversified friend's feedback on their own contractors can be. On one hand, we've friends cursing their heads off at horrible contractors, and on the other, we've friends full of praises for theirs. Of course, a couple fell in the middle. Guess they are those that agreed on the logic that what you pay is what you get - so don't expect world class workmanship when all you are willing to fork out is marketplace prices. Nonetheless, with all these in mind, we set out on our very mission to search for our own contractor.

I didn't expect the need to meet up with more than 3 contractors, afterall, Zim and myself are relatively easy going and easy to please (READ: Lazy to find too many). To a huge extent, both of us rely hugely on our gut feelings (that's how we settled on our bridal shop and photographer!) and if we are comfortable with someone, we would more or less follow our 'feelings'. So we kinda thought that it would be pretty easy to settle on one.

The first 3 we met were very, erm, diverse. The first one came with huge recommendations from a friend. Hence, me and Zim happily went for our appointment, only to be disappointed by him (well, he stood us up and got his colleague to meet us without informing us beforehand), His colleague was nice, but our gut feelings just doesn't seem to feel the same. In addition, the quotation given was missing so many items that while the quotation was still within our budget, we were concerned that add-ons would eventually kill us. So, STRIKE ONE!

The second one was pretty good. We were really pretty comfortable with him and he was able to work within our budget. (After we removing several items that we would love to include) However, one major concern was that the person whom recommended him had 3 times our budget, so, does having 1/3 budget equate to 1/3 workmanship? Inevitable I guess. So, let's just put him on hold for now.

The third one was, hm, interesting. We listed down what we would like to have during our first meeting and the person pretty much assured us that what we wanted was workable for our budget, and even better, might be less. When the quotation was ready, instead of emailing us for our convenience, they insisted that we visit them personally again. Fair enough. The fun part was, the quotation was not only not less than our budget, it was 1.5 times our budget. (WTF) The contractor even boasted of how he repeatedly change his company's name to avoid paying GST. Erm, guess he wasn't aware that Auntie me, and Uncle Zim are both civil servants who do have integrity (why do I feel slightly guilty saying this. =P). Our main concern was how much discount (up to 10%) he could give simply because we were recommended by friends. It gave us the impression that he purposely brought up the price, only to bring it down again just to make us fall into his trap. (Not gonna work, Mister) We didn't feel good about it (duh) and clearly rejected him during his follow-up call a few days later. STRIKE TWO!

We were almost ready to settle on the second one when I gave in to my mom's constant nagging. (well, she believes in the principle that the more you see, the better you can decide) For once I am actually thankful to her nagging! The two additional ones we've seen were satisfying. Not only were we able to list down what exactly we wanted, each meeting with a new contractor raised some concerns that we had overlooked earlier (and interestingly, not being mentioned by any of the 1st three).

We are still waiting for both their quotations, but I am having relatively high hopes that we might just have hit the jackpot this time and found THE ONE contractor.

So, do Stay tune....

Olympics fever

I'm sooo addicted to Olympics Basketball right now. It's insane watching American All Stars Basketball trash other countries!!!! Their steals, their rebounds, their ally, their rejects.. they are just so...mesmerizing. OMG. I wanna play like them!!!!!!

Best of all, Dwayne Wade's back in action!! And he's still sooooo good. Reminds me of the days in USA when I caught the NBA fever (Go Miami Heats!) Plus, there's also Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd in the team..you name it, they got it. Disgusting yet fabulous. My money's definitely on them to win the gold medal! Well, but it's not so much of winning the gold, it's about being able to watch them play their way to the finals! Can't wait to watch them trash more teams!

Oh, there are two things for my birthday!
A pair of Lebron James and A ticket to the next NBA game!!!

Recovering

2006 was a bad basketball year for me. Started with a torn meniscus and ended with a sprained ankle. Took me a couple of years to recover fully and finally the nagging pain on my ankle and the constant 'giving way' of my knee left me. Guess I took it all for granted when I stopped wearing my ankle and knee guard. =(

Oh well, I learnt it the hard way. I promise I'll keep my guards on in future. But there's no way I'm going to give up basketball! (at least for now I'm sure. =P)

Hm, guess I'll take a two weeks' break and I'll be back!!!!

Dinner date with the 'Husband'

Felt that it has been a while since I last gave Zim something... so on impulse (Yeah, I came to conclude that KeY functions best on impulse), I bought him a little gift. (Nicely wrapped by the salesman!)



KeY presenting the gift to Zim



THE PRESENT



A satisfied Zim



Can you imagine how silly the 'Husband' was. Firstly, he has never heard of the brand -Agnes b. (Jaw drop) Secondly, he thought that the brand name was called Voyage (Jaw drop MORE)

At least he liked the design. faints~

Zim, u are the BEST!

Lappie...

Another reason not to get macbooks: It scratches at the bottom... =(

Haven't used my lappie for a while and decided to use it to blog today. Just as I was inspecting my lappie, I realized tons and tons of scratches on the bottom of the laptop.

Sucks.

Not happy.

My Tooth Fairy..

Had a nagging toothache last week and went to the nearest dentist I can think of to get it checked. Turned out that my top wisdom tooth was eating into the gums besides the bottom wisdom tooth which is still growing. The dentist gave me two options: to extract or to live with the pain. (nice~)

Was rather hesitant as I was relatively concerned about the cost of extraction and of course, the pain involved lah. But decided to get it over and done with...Best of all, it wasn't as expensive as expected. Hee..

Only one word to conclude the whole experience - Ouch.. Not the extraction process, but the healing process. Took me about 5 days to be freed of the pain of extraction. (Guess being knocked by the 'husband' during basketball following extraction added on to the healing process.) Had a hell of a time just trying to chew my food. Was ultra tempted to get the 'husband' to chew on my food before feeding me. Glad I managed to control myself in time. Phew~

Now that I've recovered, I am proud to say that I've effectively survived my very first (hopefully my last) extraction. (Hooray!)

And the price trophy is...

Thought of putting it under my pillow... *Visualizes the horror flick*.. Erm, on second thoughts, it's okay. =P

Well, to be honest, what really convinced me to do the extraction wasn't the pain, but the fact that the dentist was quite cute.

=P

Back from Hong Kong... AGAIN...

Finally made it back from Hong Kong. Definitely glad to be back! No place feels as good as home! Hm, seems like the Hong Kong trip pretty much concludes my travelling for the year. Yap, NO MORE plane rides for the rest of the year! I officially have enough of plane rides.

Overall, the trip was pretty fun, thanks to the company of my sistas + brother. Shopping was GOOD as usual (it's better not to mention the damage done. =P). To add on to our adventure, we survived a No.3 Typhoon! (Nay, it was nothing wow, just lotsa rain and occasional strong winds. Nothing too exciting)

Now that Zim and I are finally back for good, wedding preparations are picking up once again. (Yes, that also means that the wedding headaches will be coming back too, oops. )Kinda scary to think that although the wedding is just 6 months away, there are still a long list of items that require our attention. *Faints* Who ever said preparing for a wedding/marriage is easy~ =(

Oh, by the way, after some discussion with the husband, we've decided to purchase a resale flat (somewhere in Bukit Panjang area). Yeah, we know that resale flats are generally more costly, but there's nothing much we can do since our luck with HDB's balloting system just seems to be really really bad. Started our house scouting a couple of weeks ago, saw a couple that we have pretty good vibes of. (but our moms don't quite seem to agree.. ) Anyway, nothing is finalized at this point of time.. Guess that means more scouting...

Sigh~