Moments

This month is probably the most intensive month for the last quarter of the year. Tons of deadlines to meet, meetings to rush to, projects to clear and trainings to attend. 

Coupled with reno stuff and final leg of wedding planning! 

I'm thankful for little moments of calmness and enjoyment, no matter how short-lived, for it provides us a chance to remind ourselves to breathe. 

I can still recall the feeling of tranquility when we were sitting at the balcony having a simple breakfast. No buzz around us, no crowd, no distractions. Just us, the breeze and the sound of water flowing over the edge of the pool.

And the sudden urge to engage in a half hour long prayer on the treadmill because my mind was finally clear enough to focus on what is truly important. 

It's moments like these that are so simple and precious. That I do not wish to forget.

These 2 weeks will be pure madness once again. But I'm really thankful that most of the crazy moments should be over by end of this month and hopefully, we can concentrate on our wedding for the month of December :)

Florals, food tasting, hen party, dinner in M'sia, guo da li, bridal party, logistics. 

I'm definitely dedicating December for all of these!

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:13 

Buzz around the House

Our own house will not be ready for another 1 to 2 years and the original plan was to stay with Pops’ family till our house is ready.

However, during our parents-meet-the-parents session, it so happened that his dad brought up the possibility of us staying at the aptmt they bought for rental purpose while waiting for our house. It sounded logical (and really exciting) since they are getting their reno done and one of his brother is going to take over his room in the future, might as well let him decide how he wants the room to be done.

We received the keys to the new aptmt abt a month ago and we are now full force into the reno. 

Some (ok, a lot of) photos taken of the pre-reno aptmt:

[Exterior]

(finally, no more climbing up and down the MSCP!)

[Pool + Clubhouse]

[Interior]

(this shall mean one thing - BAKE!!)

(Reserving this window ledge for pots of home-grown herbs)

(Looking forward to chill-time at the crazy-sized balcony)

[All the Other Things]

(just step out of the house and it’ll lead directly to the bus stop which will link to the MRT stn entrance. Such convenience!)

(gym. No more excuses)

(bee-bee-queue! and no more having to book exorbitantly-priced chalets to do that)

(With a flower shop right next door, no one's stopping me from getting a new bunch of fresh-cut every week!)

Ok, end of preview :) and we really love that place!

I’m so impressed with pops for being so organized and on-the-ball with the reno works. He is now coordinating the reno for both the new aptmt and his current house within a short span of 3 mths and it’s unbelievable the details that have to be taken care of. Not to mention managing the varied preferences, decisions, choices and temperaments of everyone involved.

But he seems to really enjoy it and I believe that he will be greatly satisfied upon the completion of the projects :)

At the same time, we’re also taking this whole experience as a practice and trial for us, before we get our own home. Making decisions, choices, checking out details, setting priorities... so many things to look at and so many potential opportunities for conflicts. 

But I’m really glad that we’ve made it so far into the process unscathed. In fact, we’ve really enjoyed it despite the intensity :) I guess it’s because we appreciate similar things, we listen to each others’ comments and we complement each other in our decision-making process. We tend to notice things that the other party does not and it helps us to make better decisions. And we pray. For God to grant us wisdom, strength and understanding.

Today, we took half-day leave and accomplished soooo much we were impressed by our focus :p

Bought utensils and pots, collected lights, checked out outdoor furniture, updated contractors’ list with the condo management, delivered lights to the aptmt, went IKEA for some loose furniture, went to OM to select our complimentary sofa and dining sets. And as I’m typing away, pops is packing his room to prepare for the move.

I’ve got so much (yes, much, because it has become uncountable) photos to share on the whole process, I shall do soon a separate post next time :)

Solitary

Solitude is great, occasionally.

It provides space, and more importantly, self-awareness.

Nth is more horrifying than waking up one day and asking yourself why are u no longer the person u used to be or whr have the life that u panned out disappeared to.

The occasional solitude serves like fresh air on bare skin. It wakes u up, refreshes u and gives u that much needed jolt of inspiration u need to prepare for what's about to come.

At least that is what is does for me.

It gives me space and time to think. About life, about dreams, about routine, about relationships... About me.

And ironically, my fav place of solitude, is on the bus, that's going on a long long journey.

[VDL - Part 12] Meet the JP!

Met up with the Justice of Peace who will be solemnizing our wedding :)

We were looking for a Christian JP but thought it will be quite tough since our solemnization will be held on Sunday morning. Checked out some forum reviews and managed to find Simon. 

We emailed him a week ago to enquire about his availability and thankfully, he’s able to make it! He will be solemnizing another wedding at Keppel Club just an hour before us so we are really quite blessed X) . 

He has been extremely prompt in his follow-up and arranged for us to meet him today so that we can proceed with the registration at ROM. 

(Photo taken from SingaporeBrides forum)

The meet-up with him was really comfortable and engaging. We expected a quick and simple briefing session to exchange forms and run through the procedures for the solemnization. But in addition to that, he did a DISC profiling for us and helped us to find out how we should treat each other in a marriage so as to compliment our character. Not sure if this is a standard procedure for all JPs, but we found it interesting and helpful :)

Obviously, Pops is the Investigator and I actually straddle between Persister and Specialist (which, incidentally, is Simon’s profile!). 

Basically, I’m a very nice person who values harmony and can’t really make decision :X Thankfully, pops is good with the part on making decision so we won’t end up in a limbo when there’s a tough decision to make :) And we are all people-persons so the whole meet-up was really light-hearted!

He also gave us some samples of vows, but I’m pretty insistent that we should write our own!

And also some materials from his marriage prep course :) 

Yayyy, another item off the check-list!! 

Thank God once again for His amazing provision :)

We’re looking forward to the start of our marriage prep course in Oct, and yes, we better send out our save-the-dates soooooon!

[VDL - Part 11] Marriage Prep Course

Pops has been reminding me to check out marriage prep courses for the longest time.

I’ve looked around a bit but a lot of them are rather secular in nature, so I felt some resistance to sign up for them.

One random evening, I was at the drop-off point waiting for pops to meet me aft booking out from reservist and happened to meet one of the directors who was part of the fellowship group in office. 

She waved a bunch of flowers excitedly at me and told me that she’s going for the Alpha Marriage Course.

I heard of that course before during FG. But before she had the chance to elaborate further, her hubs arrived and she had to leave.

I went back to google Alpha Course that night and realized that they have Pre-marriage Preparation Course as well! And the description got me pretty excited:

"A five session course set in a fantastic atmosphere. You will be served with a candlelit meal and/or coffee, tea and dessert in a romantic setting while listening to practical talks that are informative and fun, either given live or played on DVD."

And the venue is at Dempsey!!

When I first checked, I realized we missed the registration date and more than half the lessons were during Pops’ reservist period so I was pretty disappointed.

But subsequently, I found out that they have a new round in Oct/ Nov which is just perfect!!

We registered today and Chee Min, the facilitator, was extremely prompt in following up :) We were already given homework to complete before our first session - to complete the MBTI profiling questionnaire!

I’ll try to update more on the course after going to the sessions.

But for now, I just wanna thank God for helping us check one more item off our Wedding Checklist~!!

If anyone of you are keen to find out more about the course, you can visit the website below:

http://www.relationshipcentral.org.sg/marriage-preparation-course/about-course

GFF-GirlFriends Forever!

Spent a lovely Saturday out with the girls couple of weekends ago :)

Everyone’s so busy with our own lives it feels like a luxury to gather and spend a whole afternoon busking in each others’ company. 

Started our day at The Plains, with a simply but soulfully made brunch.

Then we shifted to K.Ki at Ann Siang for cakes and tea.

And to (finally) celebrate a birthday!! 

I think we got so comfortable there, we stayed for a good 4 hours straight, catching up on everyones’ lives :)

 I can’t help but feel soooo at home with the Scandinavian feel exuded by the wood+white tone, random splashes of colors and simple yet functional furniture :)

It’s always comforting and heart-warming to remember that you have a group of loving girlfriends to grow old with ❤

We need more tea-time chats plssssss!! :)

It's a Mob

We watched the coolest show, talked about the stupidest things, had the heartiest laugh.

It was a randomly marvelous night ❤

[VDL - Part 10] Ring “Pillow"

The good thing about having a theme for the wedding, is that you won’t end up buying things for the wedding aimlessly.

The not-so-good thing about it, is that you get so obsessed with wanting every detail to go with the theme, you find it difficult to settle for anything else.

Pops and I have been looking for the perfect ring pillow for our vintage-travel theme for the longest time. In fact, we had such high hopes on finding one in Kimchi-land, but to no avail.

Credits to our obsession to keep to the theme or our die-hard persistence to find that special something to hold our wedding bands, we resisted buying any of the pretty-frilly-lookin ring pillows. And thank God we did!

Because one random evening, we stumbled upon a quaint vintage toy store in town while searching for food (I know, we sound like we’re perpetually hungry).

And we saw this small, inconspicuous looking storage box shaped in the likes of a vintage suitcase!

While it doesn’t look like it’s made to hold rings, both of us knew we had to get it. And we know we’ll work sth out later :)

And so here’s our little suitcase of blessings with no lace, no ribbons and no satin...

But we love it!!

[VDL - Part 9] Save the Date(s)!

Just realized that I've not updated any VDL posts for quite some time. That shows how slack we have been in our wedding prep since we came back from Korea :p

Since the last VDL post, we've chosen our actual day gowns and suits, received our framed bridal photo from Korea, bought a bunch of material from paper market for wedding crafts (during GSS), went shopping for betrothal gifts (si dian jin) and (before even finalizing our guest list) created our own save-the-date! 

I was all over pinterest trying to gather some fancy ideas for our save-the-date mailer. I even contemplated doing a causal shoot for that because there are just so many lovely ideas! 

But one fine afternoon, as I sat in front of my Mac, browsing through our pre-wed photos from Korea, I added some texts to a few of my fav photos and...

Honestly, I think they turned out better than I expected! Considering the very minimal effort it took :X

So the fun and easy part of our save-the-date project is done, we pretty much have to bite the bullet and get through the finalizing of our guest list soon. Hrmps. 

5th

Another National Day came and gone. The 47th birthday of the nation marked our 5th year together :)

As usual, our anniversary is a quiet affair, where we just sit together with the family and let NPD take center stage.

But being the final anniversary that we are going to spend on national day, we pampered ourselves a little with some epicurean indulgence :)

We went to our fav restaurant on Sentosa for our fix for a slow, romantic dinner.

We love the place not just for the food and the service, but also its lovely ambience. It's comfortably littered with people so it's not dead quiet, and yet we get to enjoy enough privacy to just focus our attention on each other and HTHT. 

And the next morning, we went to our new fav hang-out to while away the holiday morning :)

A lovely, lazy brunch is one of the most therapeutic activities. I think it's good for the palette and good for the soul :)

We went home and had an extremely giggly gift exchange because we were both so thrilled by each other's presents! 

I lurrrvvvveeee my Einie thumb drive! I've been looking high and low for the Einie bobby head since I saw it on Night at the Museum, but we never managed to find it. So he got me this as a replacement till we manage to find the Einie bobby :)

And I customised these cushions for him and for our new home. 

As I'm doing this project, I realize that he is so many things to me. He is so many things that I am not, so many things that I never thought I needed in my life, so many things that I adore. And now, because he is so many things to me, he has become someone I can't live without.

I fall asleep every night giving thanks that he is in my life. And I pray that I will never forget what a blessing it is. That I will never take a love like this for granted.

Happy 5th year anniversary to my hubs-to-be :)