The Meeting

It was time for the parents to meet...it was on Saturday 9th June, for dinner at Everyday Supreme (the chinese restaurant where we intend to have the 20th dinner)...I was a little worried...although not very worried...but a "little" worried...hahaha...I think it is natural to have that feeling that there might be some disagreements between the two parties...They have met a few times before, but not often, but this time, it is different...it is for a reason...hehehe...it is an official meeting to obtain "permission" from my parents...LOL...and also to discuss about the usual chinese traditional stuff...My family is Christian whereas they are staunch Taoist, so my family has no superstitions, no strict rules or believes, we are all "chin chai" & simplicity is the best...I am glad that his father understands us and understands what we want and what we like, so I was glad that it all went well, although they do have their culture and beliefs that I have to follow, as the bride, but I am ok, as long as it does not go against my rights...OOOoooooo! hahaha...everyone seemed quite comfortable and there was no weird situations...so I was really happy. For my dad, anything is fine as long as it is wat Sam and I want...I love my parents for this...they just really let us kau tim, they dont wanna get involved, which is good, so I am not too stressed out. So, I only have to worry about Sam's side and what they want and require of us to do and follow...wish me luck!

Planning a Wedding part II

Thank goodness, Sam has finally assured me that 32 @ The Mansion will be the venue for the 27th October Wedding Dinner. Before this, it was only 99% because a few friends kept giving us suggestions for a venue, but I still much preferred 32 cos they have the experience and the place is really nice. My brother & sister had their wedding dinners there too...hahaha...so now it is my turn to have it there. My first choice was actually Parkroyal Hotel at Batu Feringghi, but we had a concern...we were worried about our heavy drinking guests...for them to drive home through the winding roads back into town can be a little bit dangerous, so we had to find a venue in town and most hotels in town are booked on the 27th already, and we think 32 would be an ideal place, so why not!!! So, thank goodness that is confirmed now...phew!!! Now, only the chinese dinner on the 20th Oct is not confirmed yet, but I am not so worried about that dinner. I will let his family decide and choose the venue cause 95% of the guests at the chinese dinner will be his side of the family...hehe...so my main concern is the 27th Oct event - the MAIN day - THE day...hahahaha...

I have finally met with a designer/tailor for my dress(es), but it is only the first appointment, he will need to source for the material, then meet up with me again a few weeks later. I have also paid the deposit for my hair & make-up...and hair & make-up can be freaking expensive, it will cost me almost RM1,000 for both 20th & 27th. I was shocked...but sigh...it is a necessity cos I cannot do my own make-up & hair! I have also paid the deposit for our pre-wedding photographs. Covershots will be doing it and we have chosen to take our pictures at Cameron Highlands...mainly because the weather is cooler there...LOL...that is the ONLY reason. I love the beach, but Sam thinks it will be too damn HOT & sunny, we would probably get sun-burned by the end of the photo shoot...so we thought, either Bukit Tinggi or Cameron...and a photographer advised that Cameron will have better and more natural buildings as background, so ok lor...I don't mind :) As long as Sam doesn't mind paying for the additional transport & accommodation costs...kekeke...I initially didn't want to take any pre-wedding photographs cos I thought it would be a waste of money, but everyone thought I was mad not to take it, even Sam said "take lor"...hhmm...so ok lor...we will be taking them in July :P I will have to go to KL in June to pick out my dresses for the photo shoot, it should be FUN :)

I have also found a photographer for the event photography and have met up with the florist and decorator and have booked his time for both dates. So, now I guess everything has been pre-booked and I am just going to sit back and wait for everything to fall into place for me to take action and work on them. There is nothing much that I can do now except to wait...wait for his family to confirm the venue for the chinese dinner on the 20th...wait for my designer/tailor to call me back after he finds some suitable material...then I'll be able to start work on the invitation cards, discuss the theme with my florist & decorator, think of the door gifts, find a band, prepare the seating for the guests for both dinners :S - the toughest part of a wedding - and getting our room ready for the pick-up bride and of course for me to move in after the wedding...hhmm...and a few more other things...hahaha...

I am not expecting much for my wedding dinner @ 32...I just want it to be fun, comfortable, cozy and for everyone to mingle around and P.A.R.T.Y.!!! Woo hoo!!! I am just going to try my best to make it a fun event, but I won't be able to please everyone, so I will just try my best and make sure I myself will have fun too...it is my wedding after all! ;)

Planning a wedding...

...is not easy...and is really expensive...everything involves decisions, decisions, decisions...money, money & lots of money...

To date we have yet to confirm CONFIRM a venue...although we do have a few places in mind already and have verbally "confirmed" a couple of venues but I have delayed the deposit payment for the confirmation of the venue mainly because we keep getting new ideas for new venues...ideas keep changing, although it's only been 19 days since I started planning the wedding, but we've had so many changes made to the type of dinner, the theme, the venue, the no. of pax, the no. of dinners...etc...and this is only just the beginning. But with only 5 more months left to plan...I am getting a little worried...I was still taking it slow the past few days, but now I am feeling the rush to get things done & confirmed with. The date is confirmed already, but I am trying to get the venue confirmed, once that is done, I will be able to follow with getting the invitation cards done, confirming the theme & decortations with the event planner, the band, the menu...Other than that, I still have to arrange for the pre-wedding photos, the event photographer, the dresses, the make up & hair do, the accommodation for the outstation guests...the registration, the whole pick-up bride planning and renovations...whoa!!! Phew!!! Although I do admit that it can all be done within a few months, but it will be non-stop planning all the way until the wedding day...Preferably, I have a year to plan, but come to think of it...a year is also a loooong time, with so much time to plan, we tend to keep changing our minds cos new ideas pop up from everywhere...so it is also not good...I wanna just get it over and done with so that I won't keep changing my mind...after all, it is only for that ONE day...despite everything, it is still going to be our day...our Wedding Day, it is going to be great no matter what!

So, stay tuned for my wedding planning................................it is going to be..............................interesting, I hope....hahahahah....

German Giant...

Everyone, please meet Herman...the German GIANT wabbit...he weighs about 22lbs, 3 feet long and his ears are 12 inches in length...he is the cutest wabbit I have ever seen...look at those FEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He eats about 2kgs of vegies a day and his favourite is lettuce...wahahahahaha...a friend says that his friend is importing these wabbits into Malaysia...

I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

FINALLY!!!

Yes, my dear friends...this is what everyone has been waiting for for the past 5 years...I am FINALLY getting married...I got the "confirmation" on May 1st, yes, it was Labour Day...and we were at a PUB, called SOHO and with 3 well-built muscular friends, they guarded and delivered the ring to SOHO and that's when I realised..."THIS IS IT!!! It is finally REALLY happening"...my hands were shaking and I was really nervous and I had butterflies in my stomach...although he didn't kneel down on one knee and propose or anything like that, it was a deemed yes already, all he did was give me the ring, but I did manage to get him to put the ring on for me...it was quite a surprise to me because I didn't think he would actually buy me a ring without my knowledge, I always thought we'd just talk about it and decide to marry and go look for a ring together...haha...so this was a surprise to me...

Although, for the past few months, his parents and family have been talking about our "wedding" happening this year, but I didn't think much about it, cos Sam didn't say anything about it at all, so I assumed that it was his family that was just trying to get us to tie the knot asap but was not Sam's plan...but I guess it was...so, now we are officially getting married and it will be THIS year...OCTOBER...2007!!!

Everything has been quite crazy and hectic recently...I had to jump into action almost immediately, looking at all our auspicious dates and choosing the most ideal ones and calling up every suitable hotel to check for the availability and capacity. I was also not sleeping too well for a few days because of all the excitement and chaos and the anticipation and also worried that we wouldn't be able to get a suitable venue that we liked...but now, we have almost confirmed the date & venue...phew! and from there, it should be smooth sailing...the 2 most important things are the date & venue, once that is confirmed and done, the rest should just fall into place. Of course there will be a few hiccups here & there but that is normal...we'll just have to deal with it as it happens...so...stay tuned for more details... :P ;)

Overnite Camping Trip @ Pantai Kerachut 28/04-29/04/07

Pantai Kerachut

Pantai Kerachut - you can either get there by a 20-minute boat ride or a 50-minute hike through the forest...the hike there is quite easy and really nice cos it is shaded most of the way and not too difficult, but it can be a little dangerous because you might get lost in there...but otherwise, it is a very nice hike...About 4-5 yrs ago, I joined my bro's friends for a hike and picnic trip to Pantai Kerachut, but back then, Pantai Kerachut was a disappointment, the beach was strewn with rubbish. This time, I was surprised to see how clean it was. I never knew Penang was capable of cleaning up a beach...hahahaha...but, I learned that the reason why they had it cleaned up was because they were making it a National Park and they have set up a Ranger's Hut and we have to get ourselves registered at a booth that is located at the port / hiking starting point. There were 17 of us altogether...

This is good news, but as usual, we hope that they will keep it up and not slack off...which is very common in Malaysia...sigh!!!

Upon arriving at the beach, we started looking for an ideal spot to set up our tents...

this tent took us almost an hour to get up, cos of all things, we forgot to bring ropes...so, we had to make do with whatever that we had...so this tent was not exactly properly set up the right way...

This tent was rather easy...only took us 20 minutes...hehehe...

this was the EASIEST...it took my friend 10 minutes to get it up...but at the end of the day, when it rained...this tent was the first to get flooded with water INSIDE the tent...hahaha...

It took us about an hour to get all the 5 tents up. Then we started clearing a place under some trees for us to rest...some of us went fishing, but had no luck at all, the fishes did not take bait...but it was alrite, it was fun anyhow...after our fishing attempt failed, I managed to take a nap under the trees, the weather was beautiful...there were other campers there, I think possibly a total of 60 other campers as well...

our sotong bait...but no fish wanted to eat it...poor thing...

...we brought soooooo much food that we managed to offer some to the other campers...hahaha...we are such generous ppl :P but I gotta say that the amount of food we brought was cra-zee...and worse of all, the guys were the ones who organised this camping trip and the food list...sigh...i think they should always consult or leave it to the girls when it comes to food preparation...the amount of food we had could well last us for 3-4 whole days...and it was like a fine dining camping trip...the menu consisted of chilli con carne, french toasts, 100 chicken wings, 3 different types of sausages, corn cobs, japanese sweet potatoes, fish fillets wrapped in banana leaves with a choice of curry or spicy sauce, variety of vegies marinated in olive oil & herbs, tuna & ham sandwiches, curry chicken (1 whole chicken)...there were 10 french loaves, 8 cans of baked beans, 50 eggs, etc...it was CRA-ZEEEEEEE!!! Our girls idea of a camping trip was instant cup noodles, bread/sandwiches, junk food...simple and hassle free food...but sigh...oh well, a lesson to be learned...

our necessities...

netting for the BBQ pit, banana leaves to wrap the fish fillets, bags of chicken wings, Japanese sweet potatoes, etc etc etc...

we stopped by Monkey Beach on our way here to pick up the gas tank & stove...Monkey beach is just before Pantai Kerachut, about 15mins boat ride...

a wok, lots n lots n lots of sausages...I think possibly more than 100 sausages...

...looks like a fine dining restaurant kitchen?????...

50 eggs...

10 french loaves...and half of them got attacked by ants...

Our fren's "famous" chicken curry that was totally..........UN-edible!!! I didn't even dare to taste it...cos by the look on their faces, I knew it was unedible...hahaha...

the yummy Chilli Con Carne...it was really yummy, especially with the french loaf...
Beautiful sunset...........

Everything went well into the night...we were lying down on mats enjoying the breeze...until the stars disappeared behind thick clouds...uh-oh!!! We all started praying hard that it wouldn't rain but unfortunately, just before midnight...we heard heavy rain drawing nearer n nearer, we got up and ran as fast as we could into our tents, the thunder & lightning was booming across the sky above us, it was scary yet exciting...hahaha...we had to hide ourselves in the tent until the rain stopped at 3am...we then managed to get some sleep until 8am in the morning, although it started to drizzle again at 5am all the way until we left at 10am.

If it was not for the rain, this trip would have been quite nice, but my whole body was aching because of the uneven sand underneath our tents...but this really gave us a taste of "tough life"...

the gloomy weather in the morning...still raining...

a professional shot taken by Sam...hahaha...