dee2x | Rant! Roar!

It’s been so long, I’ve almost forgotten what I had planned to post..! And that defeats the entire purpose of these posts! So before we go further, I’m going to note down my plan of attack, so that even if this takes a YEAR (I hope not!) or less, I’ll remember what to write about. Hehe.

So, today – I’m going to talk about about how we planned this wedding, using my mind map. I made this while planning the wedding, which I stuck on the door of the laundry cabinet so we could look at it everyday.

(Which probably explains why there’s a couple of wet smears on it. Hmm…)

I think very much in a non-linear lines, I’m think in pictures and remember in sounds. (Yes, odd considering that I work in a line where data and linear thoughts are key.)

Before we started planning, I had a few Excel files to get started thanks to some really helpful friends. And so, I started to write down a list of things we had to do for our wedding. Things quickly grew out of hand after a while, and the list grew endless and everything just become one huge Excel list of ‘Pending’ or ‘Not Done’. I was overwhelmed and unmotivated. Yuck! It was a list which started to make no sense, and I’m supposed to enjoy planning my wedding..!

So I started scribbling on pieces of paper, drawing what I liked. I started with the main event, broke it down into mornings and evening sessions and what I needed for each, and it all made so much more sense (and felt very much more manageable) when I put in my mind map. So it stuck!

Whew!

So next up, we’re going to have a post on the wedding logo and our ‘Save the Date’ experiences with Malaysians and Google Docs. Ok, we’re back on track!

Looking back on our big day recently, I figured that it would be fun for me to write about the why and the hows our wedding came together. A reflection of sorts which we can look back upon and learn from in the years ahead.

We can remember the exact moment we made our first decision about our wedding, while munching on yummy Chinese food. It all started with 9/9/09, when Daddy had his birthday party at Noble House and the food was deliciously awesome there. We both agreed, good food was going to be a MUST for our wedding. And it was certainly very helpful of Sallie to go ahead and book the very same venue for us on 10/10/10 for our wedding dinner almost immediately after. Yes, we were VERY lucky indeed. And that set in motion the rest of the events leading to our big day. The date! Ten ten ten..!

After that, we went back to Melbourne and life went on as usual. With more than a full year ahead to plan, the first thing we did was to book ourselves a makeup artist – Angie Ng, videographer – Choo Harn and photographer – Paul Kong for our event with recommendations from Jon Low.

And then, procrastination set in.

Time went by.

I finally found myself a wedding dress. Finally, because I had finally made it out to a store to start shopping! I picked one from a sample sale at Mariana Hardwick on my first visit. And that was it! And for my shoes, I wanted a pair of red ones, and since we rarely went shopping here in Melbourne – it took us quite a while to find it. Devin was the one who spotted them, a pair of gorgeous red Mimco heels that had tassels at the back. And even better was the price tag, it was 70% off the original price. Woot!

Devin got his suit and both pairs of shoes much later. Yes, the groom had two pairs of shoes, while the bride had only one. He had planned to wear just one tie for the whole day, but after some thought, we also picked up a red bow tie because it looked fun and went along well with his red sneakers. Yes, red and sneakers. The groom out shined his bride.

It was such fun!

Up next, how we decided on our sort of like wedding logo.

With so many things going on in life, I really admire peeps who can take the time to write up their blogs and share their thoughts with the world. I certainly haven’t taken the time. It seems like being sociable has been reduced to ‘Status Updates’ or ‘Tweets’. LOL.

Anyway – I’ve been silent on this blog for a while and I find that I’ve missed rambling on about stuff that interest me. Strange, didn’t think I would. But perhaps it’s because this actually… my ‘me’ time. I do find that blogging takes up too much of my day when I could be doing something else with my hubby or dog or just with friends. Plus the fact that I love photos and I always have to have a photo on my post, or it ain’t complete!

So, now – with the iPhone4. Life has changed… again. Hehe. The photos are awesome, they’re easy and they’re quick.

Introducing Jeeme, our dog.
He’s such a little cutie, making is smile, making us laugh and being such a good boy posing for me. Hehe.

This is Jeeme, unedited.

And this is Jeeme, lomo-loved.

This is a instant photo of him – slightly aged, like a worn-out polaroid.

And lastly, a little crop of his toys from the same photo with a little effect.

I just keep taking pictures.

I even took some videos the other day and was inspired to create a little montage for J-boy and his tricks. Spent a couple of hours (which should really have been on the upcoming wedding) but I’m strangely satisfied. It’s all good. ^_^

It was PL’s birthday last Tuesday. She received a few cupcakes for her birthday and she brought this cute one home.

It’s called ‘Red Velvet’ and it’s dark red in color. Though it’s red, it tasted like chocolate cake. It’s just red coloring I think, and it’s very popular, an Oprah favorite. And that’s cream cheese frosting on top. Yum!

Happy Birthday PL! ^_^

A hitchhiker popped up unexpectedly last week in our kitchen.

Hitchhiking on a hot-red chili pepper – he (well, I think it’s a he!) slid up and appeared suddenly over the top when I was just about to pick it up and rinse it.

He’s very tiny, (the size of half my tiny fingernail) and covered very little ground… very slowly.

Finally – “All right, Mr. Camera, I’m ready for my close-up.”

And after his photo session, Dennis took him out into the garden to find a new home. ^_^

It’s a balcony!

It’s a rather unusual birthday present (one that’s still in progress and may take a couple of months to complete…) but this year, we decided to spend our present money on our home and use the balcony to extend our living area.

Here’s a sneak peak of what we have so far, along with the surviving plants from last year. And you can see bits of our home in the reflection of the sliding glass.

The balcony is pretty big and originally tiled, but my aunt suggested putting timber decks instead to make them look nicer. And also to add some cushions or seats so we could eat or relax and read a book outside. She showed us some ideas from some decorating books she had… and that was when we realized that we could do so much with the balcony! That night when we got home, we started planning.

The first item we got was the modular decking tiles system which we could assemble on our own, and can be picked up to go when we move. My favorite was the one from Freedom (a furniture store) which went on sale this week. We’ve had our eye on them for quite a few weeks now and when they went on saleeee…. hurrah! It was time to buy! We picked up 6sqm of decking tiles.

Next up, we’ll be putting in our vegetable/herb patch. Not sure if it’s the right time since it’s autumn and winter will be here soon. I’ll have to go find out.

And last, but not least – we’re looking at a 4 burner hooded BBQ. A BBQ is practically a staple in every home here, and for apartment-dwellers like us, it sits on the balcony. Most importantly, it will be capable of producing enough heat or “wok hei” to cook our usual Chinese dishes to perfection. We can’t even deep fry a fish now!

But I must say, having timber flooring really brings a more relaxing effect into your home. It’s really made quite a difference.

Hurrah, just got an email from my Dad with pictures of what my Mom’s been up to these days at home!

She’s taken up crocheting. I’m glad she’s taken up a past time, retirees don’t really have much to do at home. And double the hurrah, because she made this scarf and hat for me!

It looks awesome, and a heck of a lot of work! Thanks Mom!

I can’t wait for it to arrive in Melbourne via a fellow traveler soon. Hehe. So, who’s coming in April?

We had our first session of Touch Football (or better known as Touch Footy here) a week ago.

It was pretty interesting. There was no roaring or attacking as in traditional contact sports, and with all that blood rushing and adrenaline pumping, it felt so weird with no where to let it go!

You hold the ball, and you walk/run/charge forward up until an opponent touches you. Similar to rugby, but there’s no tackling involved. Just a tap will do. (This really takes getting used to!) So if someone taps you – stop, put the ball down and take a step back over the ball. Then another team mate picks it up, and passes the ball backwards. And, you can only pass the ball a limited number of times, I think it was ten times. If you’re not at the goal area by then, your turn is over!

In order to win at this game, you have to focus on your strategy and to be quick, agile and nimble when breaking out in a sprint for the win!

My legs are still kinda sore from the sudden sprinting. I shrieked so often when someone ‘charged’ at me, I kept mentally slapping myself not to! It’s hard not to! You rush to your opponent and face them and then you… tap them lightly. I felt like I had been wired to do the opposite! But the again, I’d rather someone touch than tackle me if I had the ball. Hehe.

But it’s all good fun, and it’ll be a good cardio workout. Team sports are always more motivating than others, and a short season over winter should be good for me and Devin. Hehe.

On another note, it turned extremely cold yesterday. It felt like 9 degrees at night. bRrr… and just as cold this morning. Time to get the heater out. I could barely get up.

We moved into our new apartment about 2 months ago. And since then, we haven’t had any phone or Internet connection at home. We had almost become quiet, withdrawn and very attached to the TV type people. Almost.

It was mostly Devin suffering from Internet Withdrawal Syndrome (IWS) or No-Internet (because I can still go online at work), and yesterday when the line came alive and we successfully connected to our ADSL2+ line… we could almost hear the angels sing, “Hallelujah!”

Hehe. So here comes the fun part!

I wrote this on 16 March 2010 on my to-do list. We were getting desperate, and I was starting to become very nasty to the Telstra people on the phone who were extremely good at flying aeroplanes and cancelling, and rescheduling.

Being unable to get connected = CRANKY.
Being unable to get connected many times = VERY CRANKY.

And yesterday, on 29 March 2010 – we were connected. It’s a good feeling. The journey is finally over, and I crossed off the very last item on my Moving Home to-do list. From an estimated 20 days to get connected (after the phone line was put in), we only took 5 days instead. ^_^

*happy*

LOL. Never realized how infamous our Petronas Twin Towers was until I rolled it up one day while playing Katamari Forever.

The description only appears for a split second when you roll it up, so I got Devin to hold the camera and take a photo when I shouted “Shoot!”.

So I rolled, and this is what we got.

Looks so washed out because there was barely anytime to refocus and adjust the lighting to the TV. Hehe. On screen, you can actually see two pointy type boxes, but here at least you can read the words in the photo!