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Random ranting again.. And because it is so random I gave up giving posts liked these titles. Stole the idea of putting a "dot" at the title bar from Rummey bears a blog which I stalk. I was awed by her preggie photos.. She and her hubby take mean photos .. want to know how stunning a 8 months pregnant mum to be in a bikini can look? Click here. She gave birth already but the pretty photos just kept coming..

I love Tuesday these days. Every Tuesday, I will rush through the door with Yong and exclaim that exact line in delight, taking deep breathe of the the freshly washed laundry. Yeah, I succumb to getting my cleaning lady. C is wonderful. It is as if I go back to a hotel every Tuesday as we are greeted by neatly arranged shoes, newspapers, toiletries, sparkling floor... and of cos, it stays hotel neat only for the Tuesdays. Now I can finally laze at home with Yong during weekends not caring about the pile of laundry to do. Bliss..

I have been keeping myself from reading Vitor and Christine blog for the longest time. Who are they? They are the couple who started a blog to track their DIY wedding right from the start, from the proposal, to the house reno, to the wedding DIY preparation, to the actual wedding.. How i knew about their blog? SGbrides of cos. And why? Cos their wedding is held in Grand Shanghai. I kept to only reading about the bits on Grand shanghai location. Reason? Cos I was afraid I would break down in envy of their wedding. THEY ARE AMAZING! They DIY everything..  even their guest book is turned into custom made postcards to be dropped in their DIY mailbox post. The wedding is liked their final year project. Every single details are thought of and customized.

Well I finally succumbed and after reading the bit on their guest book turned postcards.. I close the browser, clenched and shook my fists to sky and asked God, why not that bit of creative juice in me too?!!

Anyhow, if you have chance upon this blog looking for some wedding ideas for oriental/chinois wedding, please please please read their blog. It is jam filled with information and bursting of cool ideas that you probably can modify for your own wedding. It is liked a wedding version of my all time favorite home decor blog YoungHouseLove.

3 more weeks! Counting down..

Mum 60th birthday

时间过得真快。。

一转眼，妈咪已六十岁了。。中国传统纪年农历的干支纪年中一个循环已过。 又回到了甲子年。应该好好庆祝。

我想带妈咪和她的兄姐弟到莆田餐馆大吃大喝一顿， 热热闹闹地度过。妈咪却婉拒了我的提意，选择了低调地与我度过。唯一的要求是要吃到特别的菜色。

妈咪基本上是个挺保守的传统妈妈。但对美食要求却比较adventurous一定要不一样，对fusion food 特别感兴趣。

想到两年前和家永到过的Dozo 餐馆。不出我所料妈咪对Dozo 的 Japanese fusion food 赞不决口，一直说她终于吃到只有在电视机看到的菜色。 再加上Dozo服务员贴心招待，频频逗妈咪笑，让她度过了超开心的生日。

Interior of Dozo. Plush, rich, velvety decor. Low lighting. Very apt for romantic night out. 

Dozo belongs to the same group that opens Tao Restaurant. Dozo is the premium product line while Tao appeals to the mass crowd. But the menu concept is the same. No thick menu to choose from. Instead you choose from 5 choices of each course. We had the complimentary welcome drink, which suspiciously tasted the same as Tao. But with better decor la. 

Next up the default start dish, a plate of 3 small bites; salmon in cream, scallop with some foam up broth and lastly small piece of foie gras on bread. My mum got really excited with the arrangement of the food and lapped them all up.

Lobster or Crayfish (can't remember) salad. Mum loves the mango/fruit combi salad dressing.

Raw beef slices with Parmesan cheese. Lovely lovely dish. The condiments are done just right and complimented the thin slices of beef. Was abit apprehensive since it is raw but no regrets on ordering this one.. yum..

Mum does not liked Foie gras. Says it is very 腥. So had two serving of the foie gras in the earlier dish. On top of that,the pleasure to finish this one up myself. Foie Gras was blended into the chawanmushi and the result, creamy rich aroma of foie gras combined with the silky texture of chawanmushi. Heaven!

Escargots with cheese toasted to the right crispiness. Adequate and tasty. Nothing to shout about though.

We both LOVED the mushroom soup. I don't care what the critics in Hungrygowhere said about this one. This is DELICIOUS. Especially with the truffle oil. It is liked they have found a way to concentrate the taste of mushroom into a bowl of essence... *drool*

I am beginning to sound like a broken record.. exactly the same description as above. Just replace Mushroom soup with Seafood bisque. It was filled with seafood goodness. Those who love seafood liked me have to try this one.

Served rare on Pu Ye placed on hot stone. The aroma of Pu Ye fused into the meat. Meat lover will be shaking with ecstasy on this dish.

This one was a let down. Kurobuta Pork cheek. I heard rave review on Hungrygowhere and did not hesitate to order this one. Only to realize that pork cheek = 80% lard 20% actual pork. I tried my best to maximize my dollar on this dish but gave up after two bites. Thankfully my lard loving mum took a holiday from her watch-cholesterol-campaign and gobbled the rest up.

Desserts! Served together with pots of fruit/flower tea. We ordered Warm choco cake and custard. The latter forgettable and hence forgot to take photo of it. :P

But did a super close up on the warm chocolate oozing out. And even non-chocolate fans liked us can't help fighting over the last bit.

Dozo's surprise for my mum.

The friendly waiter asked my mum to 扮可爱 and she gamely obliged and went on to a giggling fit.

Sang her the b-day song

She made her bday wish

and we chatted abit more over our refreshing fruit/flower tea before we call it a night.

My Bridesmaid aka Sisters aka Jie Meis

Here is the fabric my bridesmaid will be using for their morning gatecrash get up. They are using the same fabric to tailor made different dresses. I can't wait to see the final products. Think they will look amazing.

Cheongsum shopping are mostly done too. In fact some of them will be getting their own make up artists/stylists for the dinner. There is a running joke among us that my wedding is becoming a pageant for the bridesmaid. Hee...

I have five amazing bridesmaids. My beloved F4, Jessica and Yim.

F4 aka  犯贱四 are my besties from Temasek Junior college. All four of us gravitated towards each other after graduation. Funnily we never really hung out together when in student council. Perhaps our 犯贱ness only fully evolved after school.  We behave liked guys in our friendship. We seldom talk on the phone. Never felt the need to have regular meeting up sessions. But if ever one of us is down, the rest will always put down everything to rush to our side. No words. Just booz and presence needed. F4 are one of my most loved people in the world. And nothing can change that.

Jessica was my ex colleague in AIA introduced by Xiaolin, one of the F4. And I got her into my current company. Grew closer ever since. She has the tightest lips ever and I trust her with my secrets cos I know she will never spill them. Both Jess and Xiaolin are long time friends with Dot who is Yong's sister. We are all interlinked in some ways. Good ways. :)

And Yim, my favorite Thai in the whole world. Met her when I was at student exchange back in Sweden and we just hit off and never looked back. Ten years down the road and halfway across the globe (she is working in UK) and we are still as close as ever. We don't talk or email much but we know we care deeply for each other nonetheless. She is getting married London and Bangkok later this year and I just can't wait to be there for her. Her darling dad, Papa Pisit, as all her good friends affectionately call him, will also be coming down together with her and her fiancee, Mike to the wedding. 

All my favorite people in the world.

They have been putting time aside to source out the right dress for my wedding. Listening me out when I had a hard time dealing with some wedding preparation issues. Brainstorming ideas for my wedding program.

So, knowing their pattern and that they will NOT bother to read my blog (-.-") I shall unbashfully confess my undying love for my favorite gals.

Love you babes. Deep deep. :*

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Today's weather is truly sensual.

The sky is grey-white. Filled with clouds. Not a blue in sight.

It had just drizzled. The air is crisp and cool.

Felt the wind against my skin. Slight chill.

Perfect weather to enjoy my McCafe Cappuccino.

Miss Yong. Wish 22nd comes quickly. To be in his arms again.


Photo by Jenny Downing

Pre Wed - Casual shots and some rantings

Last batch of my pre wed photos:

Wonky moments after the wrap up. Really fun working with Thomas and his super assistant Bush!

Not sure if I said it before, but I will say it again, it is not an easy job being a model! And I will miss this "modeling" experience I had!

Just a month plus before the wedding. The whole music copyright thingy they are clamping down on weddings is a real bummer. Best of all, they decided to throw the bomb without clear instructions to the public. How thoughtful of them to add on more stress to us couples.

Need to remind myself to call Grand Shanghai to see if they know anything after the long weekend.

Honeymoon destination - Scenery Resort here I come!

Yippee! Finally, after much hassle of wiring the money to the resort (they don't have credit card facility!!!) I have everything set and confirmed for our honeymoon trip!

After the wedding and renovation and not much left in the piggy bank, we decided to jump on the suggestion by Thomas to book a trip to Scenery Resort at Ratchaburi, 2 hours drive away from Bangkok. A much humbler choice compared to our dream honeymoon to New Zealand but hey, at least, there are still the sheeps. hehe..

A departure from the usual beach resort lum nuah holiday. We will do major nuahing in a farm resort instead. Just hope it does not smell too bad.

Check out the photos I drool over every other day in anticipation of August. All photos from sceneryresort.com:

Major crossing of fingers that it will turn out as nice as the photos!

There are only 7 villas within the resorts and we choose Barbados (all villas named after their sheeps) which came highly recommended by Thomas. Check it out!

5 glorious days at the resort with absolutely NOTHING to do! CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

2 more months to go

Today we decided to drop down to T Dragon to print our wedding cards. And because it was decided at a "since we are free why not?" whim, we were (yeah.. sounds familiar) taken aback when T Dragon lady told us sternly that we must try not to delay the decision on the artwork since our wedding is round the corner.

What?!!!!!

.....I thought we had plenty of time. ....

She must have saw our expressions and realised that we are still clueless on the imminent deadline.

"Today is 17th right? We will email you the artwork by next Wed, 24th. You must try to decide soon if you want to change anything k? Then we can start work that week. Don't worry. The printing confirmed done within 10 days.. soooooooo.. latest by mid April you will get the printed inserts."

Counting backwards, this is exactly one month before our wedding.

Which is just the right timing to give out the wedding cards actually.

But we are still happily distracted by the daily house chores, weekends dates, buying bedside tables, cooking, grocery shopping, etc.. Wedding is still a distant event to us. Well.. not really now..

God, this is so unnerving I can't even enjoy Glee just now.

Still holding the butterflies in my tummy, I complained to Yong that people should just get married the next day they decided to get married.

Register online, pay the 20-30 bucks, grab two witnesses, wear a nice dress/shirt and troop down ROM and there you go, MARRIED!

No need for months of preparation and anticipations and now, nights of panic indulgence over things not done and not thought of.

Perfect recipe for good night sleep. Thank god I got Irene to buy me more of that Bach Night remedy spray thingy from London. I think i will need that for my impending insomnia. *bleh*