Just 4 more months - Make up trial and getting nervous

I was kind of nervous when I did my make up trial earlier in the evening. Never had good experience with them thus far.

But thank god, Kelly possesses not only the skill but also a wonderful genuine disposition. It was easy to like and trust her. And when usually critical Mum marveled at my make up, I knew I am in good hands.

My cheong sum is finally completed and I have to give it to Dang for her bold use of colors. My cheong sum is in turquoise lace, completed with pale yellow, pink and purple applique. The fit is perfect. Just need to maintain my shape for the next.................

Four more months! I exclaimed to Yong later during dinner. He nodded in agreement. And we stared at each other for a few moments, soaking in the fact that we will soon be husband and wife in front of all our relatives and friends.

And the butterflies in my stomach flutters on.

Took the opportunity to use Photo Booth on my iMac to do some cam-whoring with Yong:

Swee boh? ;P

There is something about Hong Kong

When my boss reminded me of my last ill fated Hong Kong trip, it was then I suspected, perhaps there is something in the stars that forbid me to enjoy leisure time in this island. I have been to Hong Kong umpteen times for work and for that measly two times I was there for leisure, something bad must happen. Sigh..

I took some days off after my meetings to explore Hong Kong properly with Yong two summers ago. Not only I had to rearrangement my meetings since everything was shut down for a day due to the typhoon, my beloved grandma passed away that very weekend. And till today, my heart still aches with regrets for not being there to see her for the last time.

This time, I took my mum to HK for a 5 days 吃东西买东西 trip but turned out, it was only so for the first 3 days. The rest of the 2 days, we transformed into merlions and puked out all we ate before. I fell sick first but recovered quickly after a night rest. But my poor mummy probably caught something from me and with weaker immune system, could not stop vomiting for the rest of the trip.

When night fell, and I was still in the bathroom, patting her back as she vomited once again, I made the decision to get the doctor in. My jaw dropped when the duty manager informed me that the starting charge for a doctor call was HK2000 (S$400). !*&^*!&# But the kind DM advised me to grab a cab to the nearest hospital which was just two streets down.

And so, we ended up spending our last evening in Hong Kong at the A&E. Well.. hardly the kind of holiday we had looked forward to.

But the optimistic Yr2010 me felt that I have learned much from this. It was through this unfortunate episode I realized that I have never seen my mum so vulnerable, weak and sick before. And I have never needed to take care of her so completely. To have her rely on me solely for her well being. It was a surreal but humbling experience. And it got the neurotic side of me over-thinking of how much she has aged and how I should put in even more efforts to care for her. Likewise for Dad.

After the terrible ordeal, she slowly got better the next day, enough to endure the flight back to Singapore. And today she is her usual strong self again.

Self centered me did a not very self centered thing by calling her at least three times through the day just to make sure she is okay.

Nonetheless, I am glad I did the trip. I did spent quality time with her and learned to take care of her more than ever before.

Will follow up with photos and foodie reviews in the next post.

PS: By the way, how much do you think A&E in Singapore public hospital charge for Singaporean? $60? $100? $200? These are the answers from the little survey i did around the office today.
Guess how much I paid as a foreigner in Hong Kong A&E HK500 (S$100). Nett. Inclusive of all tests and medications. And if you are a Hong Kong citizen? HK100 (S$20).

So much for subsidized medical fee, Mr Khaw.

Movie Trailer: Babies

Documentary by Thomas Balmes, following the very 1st year of four newborns from Tokyo, Mongolia, Namibia and San fran.

And how different their lives are!

Can't wait to watch this on the big screen. Will prob OD on babies high..

Can't stop re-watching this trailer. Esp. love love love the very last scene. Can this get any cuter????

Woke up with this song in my head

Have always love songs from this era.

Renovation Photos: Before and After

Everyone love some good before and after photos. Advertisers exploit them and I am definitely one of their target audience/victims.

When we started our renovation back in Sep, I had in mind to do an entry on the before and after of our home sweet home eventually. Inspired by this pair of incredibly creative couple Sherry and John in US.

So here goes, the transformation of our 12 years old estate:

Dining room -Then

Dining room - Now

Living room - Then

Living Room - Now

Kitchen - Then

Kitchen - Now

Common bathroom - Then

Common toilet - Now

Masterbedroom

Masterbedroom - Now (hee.. pardon the messy clothes stand)

Masterbedroom Bathroom - Then

Masterbedroom Bathroom - Now

With most of the hardcore reno all done, it will be all about the WEDDING now..

Had a slight panic attack yesterday when my colleague asked on my preparation. Eh.. what preparation?? ????

Call from Dang Bridal today for scheduling of the trial make up and 2nd fitting further add on the stress. I was still staring at Feb calendar when it dawned on me that Daphne on the other line was talking about Jan.

.....................................!!

Which is just 2 weeks later.

ARGHHHHHHH............

I just recovered from a skin allergy reaction and am in not the best condition to do trial make up.

And I am still skinny and soft which according to Kerri Walsh is a major no-no..

My back is still popping small acne as I type away..

Breath......

It is only photo shoot... and I am sure Thomas can photoshop away my blemishes.. a

Hee.. in my friend's word "just be yourself, it is afterall, just a wedding day"

Will keep it in mind. :)

Babies slumber party, anyone?

Love this pix! Took it when Yong's friends came over for the xmas eve party.

Now it is officially the babies room. When they came over during new year eve party, the wives automatically retreated to the master bedroom for their chit chats, breast feeding, changing diaper, napping activities. 

I was on a high having so many babies around me. :) Can't wait to have them back at CNY.

Quilt project for little Carl Matthew De Roza

At the early morning of 1st Jan I was still frantically sewing the hems for the quilt specially made for Carl Matthew De Roza's 1st month birthday which would happened in just a few hours. It was a project which I roped in 3 other good friends to do up for Pink's 1st born.

Took about 3 weeks to finish the project which includes blood, sweat and thankfully no tears. It has been more than 10 years since I last handled a sewing machine hence it was really unnerving at first, trying to learn how to thread the machine, fill up the bobbin, control the cloth and pedal at the same time.... My teacher Rosie from Dream n Quilt was really patient and the aunties who are all advanced quilter taking classes as well, had only kind words for my nervous attempt on the baby quilt.

Rosie gave me the great idea of doing an alphabet quilt for the baby. The first stage was fun, cutting out the alphabets, ironing them the squares and blanket stitching them on. Roped in Xiaolin, Sharon and Jessica to help out on the stitching. All in their own stitching style, completed their assignment promptly in 2 weeks.

I then sewed on the squares together and next, the daunting task of selecting the borders. After much contemplating, I choose the lighter blue border to bring out the nice navy blue letters. (pix on the bottom right)

 Sewed on the border.......

Join the stuffing and cut them to the same size as the quilt.....

Make the sandwich: Quilt + Stuffing + Backing and quilt them together....

Doing the hemming was fun! Brought back memories of home economics class. And since it was the last step of the quilting project it was exhilarating to see it hide all the loose threads and how the quilt slowly formed up. Esp love doing the corners cos it looks so pro!

The must take pix with the completed quilt...

Rosie my quilting master...

Love this candid shot of De Roza family and the quilt...

And this ends the little project of the little quilt.. One of my girlfriend keeps telling me that I HAVE to do one for my kid next time cos it is only fair.. but frankly.. this project was more of a whim of the moment. Sudden inspiration to do so. Not sure if I will do that again. But the satisfaction of seeing the completed quilt and Pink's smile when she realized the quilt was handmade was in true mastercard slogan - priceless. So maybe... when inspiration strikes again, I shall embark on another quilting project. :)