A Different Guest List

So much can change in people's lives in a mere few months.

When the wedding date was set near the start of the year, I sat down and drew out the guest list.

I'm now going through the guest list again to confirm who's coming and who's not, and for which wedding.

I've had to make some changes to the original guest list because:

- one aunt has passed away
- one uncle has been diagnosed with an illness
- one friend has separated from her husband
- one friend is divorced from his wife
- one friend who's been trying to break up with his clingy girlfriend for the longest time, is still with her.

But then again:

- one friend is going out with this guy and there's talk of marriage
- one friend was transferred to Jakarta along with his family with an excellent package
- two friends who broke up are now together again
- one friend will be receiving his twins into the world (on 18 Oct!). Congrats John!
- I've reconnected to so many old friends in the process of inviting mutual friends to the wedding.

And since it's past midnight, it's 18 days to my wedding!

So much can happen in just a few months.

Wishing you all good things till year end and beyond.

Please respondez sil vous plait

Now that the wedding is a mere 19 days away, it's time to confirm the guest lists.

It's typical not to RSVP till the very last minute or only after you've been chased for it. So chasing is what I've been doing for the past few days.

I've still a lot of guests unconfirmed for the Chinese and JB wedding.

But the English wedding is almost full! I factored in a 30% non attendance rate which has worked well for me for all my past events, be it a birthday, Halloween, house warming party etc. This formula also works for the Chinese and JB wedding.

But because the Fairy wedding is small and for very close friends only, most are able to attend. The unique and magical theme could have had a part to play in high attendance rate too!

So I have limited spaces left and the venue may not be able to accommodate everyone ! But the RSVP date is in 2 days time and for those who have not RSVPed by then and if the remaining spaces are taken up, I'm going to close the RSVPs. Gotta be brutal.

Weddings are such brutal affairs sometimes but I figured if you're a close friend and u truly want to be there to celebrate the day with me, you'd RSVP early anyway.

Some friends say that they are not going to RSVP because they're such good friends and ask how can I ask if they are coming or not. Apparently I should just assume that they are. So it becomes a delicate affair of finding the balance of how close certain friendships are.

So what does it mean when someone does not RSVP? That they are so close that they don't have to RSVP? Or that they are not close enough so they are not bothered to RSVP till the very last minute? Hahaha!

So thanks for those who responded right away and for those who haven't..... u have 2 days!

The entrance to the Secret Garden of the Fairies isn't going to be kept open forever!

I'm High. 21 Days More Of Practise Required.

After a day of running errands for my mum, going for a wedding gown fitting, having a final meeting with the wedding venue manager, having dinner and grocery shopping, we came back home 12 hours later.

I replied my emails, checked out Facebook, did some house work and plonked myself in front of the TV and flipped channels while surfing the net.

The Love Parade was on Channel V.

I watched for a while and the DJ started playing Fat Boy Slim and Prodigy. My feet started tapping the floor while my fingers continued to tap on the key board.

I felt like dancing but I had this pile of laundry to fold. So I got up, picked up a dress and folded it while jumping up and down and dancing to the music.

The music started getting hotter, as did my body temperature (plus the clothes just came out of the dryer).

Popped open a bottle of ice cold Hoegarden, drunk it and continued dancing.

Paul who's ironing his clothes and my mum who's baking a cake (yes, at midnight because it's a new found skill of hers after living in the Middle East) are totally engrossed in their tasks and are ignoring me which is great cos i can jump higher and act like I'm on speed.

After a while, I had to sit down. Yes it's hot but my head felt light too.

Then I realize it's the beer! But I only had a quarter of a bottle!

This is what happens once you stop drinking regularly.

Which is great under normal circumstances cos you could go out and get high on 3 drinks compared to having a whole bottle to yourself before you jump around like a monkey without caring and loving every minute of it.

But it's horrible when the wedding is only 3 weeks away!

I so need to practice my drinking skills!

A bride so cannot get drunk at her own wedding!

I have 21 days of alcohol induced nights planned out.

Ah I know! I can break open the wedding alcohol!

No More Teoh's Bare Ass in Blogger

Blogger.com has requested for Teoh to remove his pic where he's baring his butt. So now he won't even get a chance to post up his full frontal nudity shot. He must be devastated!

He really needs to move to a nudist community.

Happy Birthday to the Tee Twins & Goh Triplets

Either 24^th September is a date which seems to have more births of twins and triplets, or it’s just a coincidence that I have friends who are twins and triplets who’s birthday is today.

Happy birthday Cindy & Wendy Tee!

Happy birthday Goh Doh Hau, Goh Doh Kit and Goh Doh Nut!

Air Asia X to Gold Coast

Air Asia X having a promo to Australia! RM800+ per person. Even the XL seats going for that price on some days. So we're all booked and we're off to Gold Coast after our 3rd wedding in JB.

I hate buying tickets on Air Asia. So many columns to fill and there's always the fear of filling in the wrong thing.

And while I was talking to Fruitcake and trying to get Paul's passport details, in that 30 mins or so, the price of the tickets I wanted went up by 200 bucks! Per person!

So i told Fruitcake she's not allowed to talk to me for 10 minutes till I bought the tickets.

And now, finally, they're bought and we're definitely going to Gold Coast for the honeymoon.

After 3 failed trips to Oz, I'm finally going.

Movie World! Sky diving! Champagne sunrise hot air balloon ride. Yay!

Naked Teoh's Need to be Naked

I have a friend who loves being naked. He'd be naked 24 hours a day, where ever he is, if doing so does not warrant an arrest.

In fact, Fruitcake and I met him for the first time a few years ago at Oktoberfest in 1 Utama. Psychotic Raj said he'll bringing a friend. We got there a little late and missed the RM1 beers.

Raj introduced his friend Teoh who quickly proceeded to tell Fruicake and I about his need to be naked. Totally naked. All the time.

He even divulged that if he needs to take a dump, even if it's in a very dirty mamak, he'll take off all his clothes. Including his chain, watch and shoes!

Fruitcake and I shrieked in horror! Shoes too? But ... but ... mamaks usually have filthy toilets!

"That's why I have very strong toes", said Teoh with a smug look on his face.

Too much information? Well can u imagine what Fruitcake and I were feeling? Here's this guy we met for barely 2 minutes and there he was telling us about his nakedness and shitting habits.

Despite the disgusting stories, Naked Teoh was so animated and entertaining that he was cracking us up throughout the entire drinking session. At least he was funny.

There are other stories about Naked Teoh including him wanting to leave me in Fruitcake's house without a ride home because he could not stand to be in clothes for so long and wanted to go home and strip. Or the time he actally stripped down to his underwear and contemplated taking that off too at Fruitcake's house after a night of clubbing. Or the othet time when he offered to strip on behalf of a guy who lost at Strip Poker.

Ah so many stories but I'll save that for another time.

As testament to Naked Teoh's need to be naked, especially when in the great outdoors, check out his blog:

http://yateoh.blogspot.com/2008/09/impressive-lata-kijang.html

Check out the last pic there.

Probably Gold Coast

In the past few years, I've traveled a fair bit out of the country. I've been to Bali, Bintan, Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Jakarta, Krabi, Phuket and Singapore.

But these are all in South East Asia and I didn't realize how much fares out of the region costs these days.

Since we've confirmed Gold Coast as our honeymoon destination, I've informed the travel agent and am now waiting for the final cost. While waiting, I checked our Air Asia flights from KL to Brisbane and they're RM5,000 for 2 people. I thought that was rather high for Air Asia. The price has not factored in the baggage costs and don't even talk about the XL seats which cost twice as much.

So just for a basis of comparison, I checked out fares on Malaysia Airlines from KL to Brisbane. The cost is RM3,941. Per person! Ouch.

So Air Asia is cheap after all, comparatively.

I checked out a few other destinations on MH. We originally wanted to go to Maldives, right? Flight there is very reasonable indeed. RM2,000 per person. But Paul has been there before and as much as we like the beach, i think 10 days of the beach would be a bit too much.

So just for fun, I checked out some Europe destinations we were considering.

To London, RM5,500. I remember flying off to uni in London for RM2,800. Sigh.

To Rome, RM4,500.

And Air Mauritius flies from KL to Mauritius for USD2,800. That's RM9,200!

So Gold Coast seems like the most viable option, in terms of cost and variety of entertainment.

Oh, we've taken Melbourne out of the plan (sorry Mirabella!I would love to have been able to meet u) cos Air Asia has not started their KL - Melbourne route yet and it's too much hassle and money to fly in to Gold Coast via Air Asia, then fly via Virgin Blue in-bound to and fro Gold Coast & Melbourne, then out from Gold Coast again.

Paul and I have till Monday to change our minds about Gold Coast.

Can't seem to think of many other places which doesn't cost too much, is not in Asia and yet will keep us entertained throughout the honeymoon.

Our First Wedding Present

We received our first wedding present today!

It was dropped off at Paul's family home and he went back to collect it after work today.

It is a lovely beige and crimson lamp!

It's so exciting!

In a time and culture where ang pows are more common because it's tradition and also because it's more practical for the giver and receiver, it's a real nice surprise to receive a gift.

That being said, my wedding website requests for ang pows instead of presents. It truly is more practical that way because weddings cost a fortune these days and we do need to recover the cost as much as possible. And cash will also help our honeymoon fund. Not to mention, if the person doens't know us or our tastes well enough or does not put enough effort into the gift buying, it would be a waste if they spent a fortune buying the gift but we end up hating it.

Still, it was a pleasant surprise to receive the gift and the card too.


Though I must say it is a little odd seeing it addressed to 'Mr & Mrs Wong'.


I'm still not used to the Mrs title yet.

1 Month to the Wedding!

It's exactly 1 month to our wedding.

In fact, according to the wedding day schedule, at this very moment 1 month from now, Paul and I would be popping the champagne and making our speech as husband and wife.

I'm glad to say that everything is on track and there's really not that much else to do except ensure the wedding planning committee all understand and able to undertake their roles, count the wedding presents, check on the guest list and write our wedding vows. Oh and go for spas, facials, manicures, pedicures and get a slight tan!

Met with Live Life! Travel Ashley this afternoon to discuss the honeymoon plans. He asked how it feels getting married. And I told him that it feels totally natural.

Close friends can't believe the change in me. When I was 20, I was totally against the concept of marriage. When I was 25, i thought okay maybe, just maybe, marriage isn't that bad. And just last year, I couldn't wait to be married and that day is only 30 days away.

I was expecting cold feet, apprehension and a lot of fights but none of that has happened.

Marriage is scary. You're going to be committed to this one person for the rest of your life. For better or for worst. In sickness and in health. But when you find a person who loves you so much, a person who thinks the world of you, a person who complements and edifies you, and you feel exactly the same, then marriage feels natural and becomes a union that will enhance your life and you can't help but look forward to it.

30 days and counting!

Space Saving Plastic Bag Triangles

Fruitcake has been coming over a few times a week to help me unpack and organize the house. And she has this really neat trick to organize plastic bags. Ikea has a plastic bag holder which most of us have right? But most of us just stuff the plastic bags inside. Fruitcake flattens and folds the bags into triangles which saves up about half the space used in the holder. Here's how:

Flatten the plastic bag like so.

Fold it into half horizontally.

Then fold horizontally again.

At one corner of the long rectangle, turn up one corner to form a triangle.

Continue folding the triangle over and over till you come to the end of the plastic bag.

When you have one fold left, tuck the remaining plastic int the triangle.

And there you have it.

It works with all sizes of bags!

Happy plastic bag folding and may this small folding action save you same space in your home.

Moving In Rituals

We're finally moved in. Good and proper. But before that there were some 'moving in' rituals we were asked to perform by Paul's parents. I've not heard of them before but we were asked to perform them, we didn't see any harm with it and I thought it was cute.

First, they checked our birth dates and we were told the most auspicious moving in date.

Then, on the night before, we brought in 8 birds in a cage and left them over night in the new house. They are supposed to absorb all the bad 'chi' in the house.

Where did we get the birds? Apparently there are shops which sells them because this ritual is a very common one!

I asked if i could keep a bird or two as a pet. I was told no.

And the next day, at the auspicious time, we boiled water on a traditional stove at the entrance of the home till it boiled over. Supposed to symbolize abundance and our 'cup splilleth over'.


Then we released the birds from the cages. And with them, all the bad chi are removed from the house.

Apparently this is a Cantonese ritual when you move in.

Wendy and Hosanna told me about another ritual. To sprinkle a combination of salt, rice and something else ..... was it pepper? Or some kind of spice? I don't remember. But the combination is to be sprinkled in all corners of the new house.

Know of any other weird moving in rituals?

Honeymoon Destinations

As the wedding dates draws closer, so many friends have been asking where I’m going for my honeymoon.

But I can’t answer because that’s not been finalized yet and that’s a bit worrying because I’m trying to get everything done up as early as possible so that in the one week before the wedding, I can spend my days in the spas and the nights having sufficient sleep.

I’ve been told the last week before the wedding is the most harried. Sin Cyn was wondering how brides are supposed to look at their most beautiful and radiant on their wedding when they’re running around like headless chickens in the few weeks before.

But I’ve been so busy with all the other aspects of the wedding. It’s just now that I’ve got time to think about the honeymoon.

So I approached Live Life, Travel! Ashley and told him that I was thinking of Europe because I’ve always loved Europe, both Paul and I studied there and there are so many charming countries to go to which would be perfect for a honeymoon. We could go to a French vineyard to enjoy the outdoors and get drunk on wine and on love. We could ride the gondolas on Venice before the city sinks. We could kiss under the Eiffel tower and walk around in the most romantic city in the world.

But really, the Ringgit is not friends with the Euro. As soon as go there, we’ll have to cut our spending power by 80% and that’s not wise use of money. And don’t even talk about going to the UK.

So the next best option is to go some where closer to home where we can live like a king and queen without blinking an eye. We thought of Bali because that’s where Paul and I went for our 1st anniversary and that’s where he proposed too. Or maybe one of the many beautiful and happening islands in Thailand. But those places really aren’t that special for a honeymoon because we can go any time and a honeymoon should be special if one can afford it.

So option three was to go to an island a little further away since we both love the beach. So of course Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles came to mind. Classic honeymoon destinations, right? But those places aren’t too cheap either! The honeymoon package in Club Med Kani in Maldives costs RM10,620 per person for the suite. And that’s for 5 nights only! Once we include the air fare and extend for a couple of nights ……

So we thought maybe Australia? Not the typical honeymoon destination and it is fairly close to home too. But Ashley made some enquiries anyway as he felt that we would enjoy the Gold Coast more than the other places we’ve discussed.

And it helps that Air Asia flies there. We’d save heaps!

So I did my research online to see if it’s a feasible honeymoon destination for us.

Among the activities, I was really exciting about are sky diving, bungee jumping, sitting in a plane doing acrobatics in the sky, flying a plane and a helicopter, going hand gliding, riding a hot air balloon, screaming on a roller coaster, wine tasting in vineyards, hugging a koala and feeding dolphins! And Paul wants to drive a V8 and go mountain biking.

Not very romantic or honeymoon-y activities.

We won’t be chilling on a beautiful beach together, but how memorable would our honeymoon be after throwing ourselves off a plane together as husband and wife. It may not be the most romantic but I’ve always preferred adrenaline pumping and excitement over warm hearts and soft kisses. It will be something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives and talked about for years to come.

The more I think about it, the more I think an adventure holiday is the best honeymoon we could ever have.

I’m going to reply Live Life, Travel! Ashley now!

Fine, I've Watched Dark Night

I know the whole world has watched the Dark Night and everyone says that it must be watched on the big screen. As you know I’ve been very busy with the wedding and house moving. But when Ashley Travel Agent suggested it during lunch today, Paul, him and I caught the midnight show at GSC 1U.

So I’ve watched it.

And I don’t understand why it’s the highest grossing show of all time. It was slow, a lil boring at times and fairly entertaining overall but not mind blowing. Certainly not as spectacular as how friends have described.

Suspect the main reason why it’s the highest grossing movie is cos everyone wants to see Heath Ledger’s last movie before his death.

I didn’t enjoy it that much but I’m glad I watched it. Just so people can stop saying:

“You haven’t watched it? Huh? OMG! You MUST!”

“What? You haven’t watched it??! You HAVE to watch it!!”

Contractors' Timing

Contractors are all liars and that’s a fact. If they promise you that a job will get done in 2 days, double it. It’ll take 4 days.

If they say they’ll get back to you in 2 weeks, triple it. After chasing and chasing, they’ll finally get back to you in 6 weeks.

And when they do get back to you, quite possible, they’ll get it done wrong. Then it’s another few days or weeks of rectification.

And for the rare contractor or vendor who’s polite, helpful and on time, their supplier will screw them over, resulting in yet again, late delivery dates.

After dealing with suppliers of wardrobes, grilles, curtains, furniture, electrical, white goods, framing, mirrors, plumbing, lighting, moving and general contracting works, only one or 2 did their jobs perfectly. So if you’re moving to a new place and planning to do some small renovating works, from the time u start speaking to vendors to the time u get to move in properly, give it a minimum of 3 months.

As of today, everything is almost completed. I just have to wait for some of the lights to be changed, some paint touch up work to be done, the sofa to be delivered and Streamyx to come in. I’ve been calling Streamyx for more than a week and still….. nothing. So here I am in a café checking my mail and blogging. So do bear with me if my posts are slow coming in. I fully intend to blog more once I’ve broadband in the new home.

I love everyone’s comments and would love to visit other people’s blogs. Once the darn broadband comes in and I can surf from the comforts of my own home!

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, zzzzzzzzz

I know I’m supposed to be blogging a lot more now that I’m not working but believe it or not, I’m busier now than I was when I was working! There’s so much to do for the wedding and the house moving. I’ve no idea how I’d manage to do everything if I was still working! These days I just collapse into bed at night, count to 10 and by the time I hit 8, I’m asleep!

But the hard work and effort is definitely showing. The new house is coming up so beautifully. The paint work, wardrobes, curtains and almost all the furniture are in. But there are boxes everywhere and I’ll need a week more to put the contents in its place.

Fruitcake and Michelle Who Stays on the Seashore have been great. They’ve been helping me with the move and the organizing. And giving some excellent suggestions on what should go where

Soon I’ll be able to post pics up of the new place and also start having dinner parties!

I can’t wait!