Only 2 Months To Go

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT

IT'S THE LAST DAY OF JULY 2013!! Oh my frigging goodness!! *takes a deeeeeeeep breathe*

At first my wedding date seem to be like miles away, and I kept telling myself that there is plenty of time. I WAS WRONG. OBVIOUSLY! But I feel that I have had quite a lot of the important stuff settled. 

These few weeks have been so insane for me, having to deal and handle so many emotionally and mentally draining situations, which always leaves me exhausted by the end of the day that I just want to curl up and go to sleep. No I can't just go to sleep just because I feel like it....my new job scope requires me to be responsible and available at anytime of the day to respond. But I know I will get through this phase. I have a group of people who I really care about that are helping me, though sometimes I admit I do get annoyed as times because I tend to want to handle things on my own. I like to settle things in a quiet manner.

Now I've got set up more meetings with both families to comb out every tiny little details till everything is almost perfect. Everything will work out fine, I just need to calm down and take it one step at a time.

Yay! I have completed my dukan diet journey and have started Stabilization phase where I am suppose to have pure protein days once a week. Feel kind of odd eating like normal, in fact I sometimes feel guilty after having some rice, noodles, or buns. But I still prepare my own dukan friendly lunch to work, it's better than eating "chap fan".

I guess that is all I can update for now on my blog, with the limited breather time I have right now, juggling 2 skype discussions and typing this!

Tick-a-Tock!

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT

June has ended! Sweet Bananay!! Time is like running an F1 race now that I have more new responsibilities at work and have been trying hard to manage my time and all. Got to admit, being somewhat "free" at the office in the early months of 2013 was so bad for me, now that I have to make a lot of decisions and do a lot of brainstorming, I feel that my brain and eyes are on over drive! Everyday by 8pm I'm shutting down already!

Yesterday was July 1st! Gah! My pre-wedding photoshoot was initially scheduled to be done on June 24th, but due to the NASTY haze! I had no choice but to postpone, health is wealth.

Thank You Lord that the weather was nice, and the sun came out a little after 8am, we were late to arrive at the venue because of the epic Cheras jam and I left my bouquet at home! Overall it was a wonderful experience having our dear friend Nigel shooting our pre-wedding photos, along with his little wifey Kel Li's great guidance, many would know that she and I are kinda crazy over Pinterest and we got a lot of inspiration from there to prepare ourselves. By the time we finished with the photos, it was lunch time, we could see everyone was shutting down, especially Nigel because he has a really long weekend of shooting, I myself could barely walk straight due to hunger. So we decided to take a break and head out for lunch.

After a lovely meal and conversation session, we got back to the part slightly before 3pm to proceed with the video shoot, and thunder started rolling! We tried to rush a few scenes right before it started pouring, and wait out the storm under a shelter in the park. The rain finally stopped around 4.15pm and we rushed to finish up all the rest of the scenes before 5pm! And it was a wrap just slightly before 5.30pm. Really grateful for all those who were there to help out. My sis Jenn, Ryan's bestman Sim, our make-up artist Mel, and of course the man behind the lens, Nigel and his other half, Kel Li! All the aches and pains were totally worth it!

I'm excited to see the outcome of all the photos! Now back to work, I need to excel in my new job responsibilities and focus on my Wedding, now that the photoshoot and videoshoot is settled!

I think I've pretty much covered more of my checklist.......

• Booking of Venues
• Booking of Wedding Gown
• Rental Evening Gowns
• Theme
• Wedding Invitation Designs
• Marriage Preparation Course
• Draft Guest Lists
• Draft Tea Ceremony Lists
• Draft Itinerary
• Fabric hunting for Bridesmaids dresses
• Down-size the ring (but recently discovered that the setting of the diamond is loose..got to send it back again...le sigh)
• Purchase Wedding Bands
• Recruiting Help for both days
• Some DIY props for Pre-Wedding Photoshoot and Video (WIP)
• Decoration planning with PR and HM (WIP)
• Wedding Favours (Need to discuss with the awesome pawsome baking master soon)
• Flowers (Comparing quotations)
• Wedding Gown Fitting (For pre-wedding photoshoot)(For THE DAY)
• Evening Gowns Fitting (Soon...)
• Pre-Wedding Photoshoot and Video Shoot
• Wedding Vows
• Wedding Speech
• Wedding Shoes

Officially 29 today.

That day is finally here, my birthday, my 29th birthday! the big 30 is just a step away! Oh dear......

Normally my birthdays are spent with family or friends, just having a nice meals and some good laughs. Sometimes I just don't celebrate it at all. So this year Ninja Fiance said that he wants to celebrate my birthday a few days earlier, on Saturday the 25th of May, just to have some nice steaks at Las Vacas (he's been wanting to try that place for the longest time!). Normally he would take me for dinner on my actual birthday which is on the 28th of May, but I'm ok with an earlier celebration.

Not being able to sleep well for the pass few nights and having stiff neck, I decided that I really need a nap before the dinner, so Ninja Fiance said that he will pick me up at 7pm and told me not to be late. Obviously I overslept and was late! HAHA! So obviously he was a little annoyed and we still weren't very familiar with the roads to Mont Kiara, and we made a wrong turn....

Well my lovely fun sized bestie is known for her plots of throwing surprise birthday dinners had me sorta guessing if she is going to be plotting one for me, since I've been part of her plotting for the rest of our gang very often, but then I noticed that her husband was in Port Dickson that weekend. So I guessed it's really just Ninja Fiance and I, well a girl can dream right?

And so we finally arrived at the restaurant, and since I just woke up..I was still in a blur state. Walking in to find a nice seat, it was then i noticed a familiar face and I wondered "Eh? Is that Kel Li?" because she was sitting at the front and the whole table yelled "SURPRISE!" Yay! My very first surprise birthday dinner! Organized by the fabulous Craig with Ninja Fiance suggesting to make it a surprise! :D This gang is the best! I really Thank God that I had the chance to meet and get to know this bunch! Growing up being quite reserve and socially shy, somehow the presence of Kel Li, Nigel, Nora, Jen, Craig, Jason never fails to make me feel loved and accepted for who I am. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE SURPRISE DINNER AND THE LOVELY GIFTS!

Pretty ALDO watch with changeable wrist bands from the whole gang, and red velvet cupcakes in the background from Nora.

Photo taken from Kel Li's instagram : Holding my delicious birthday red velvet cupcakes and Coach wristlet from Kel Li, and being silly.

Craig always captures my weirdest facial expressions, and a glimpse of Kel Li trying to whack the silliness out of me.

Lovely shoots from Jason's camera. :)

We forgot to take a group photo! Boooooo :/ We were having too much fun laughing and playing Bang!

Ninja Fiance bought me a pair of Foldable Ray Ban Wayfarer but I didn't take a photo of it. Maybe in another blog post or something.

I arrived to a really sweet and cute surprise at the office too! A digital drawing of my by Kea Siang who is in the Creative Multimedia team at our company, and a Happy Birthday glittery banner from Maggie.

Run to me!

Run to me you little cutie pies!

Commencing 3rd Phase!

Finally begins the Consolidation Phase of my Dukan Diet! Woohoo! I can now have 2 slices of wholemeal bread, 40g of cheese, a piece of fruit, and a little starchy food per day! I admit I kinda miss having some bread and cheese, and most of all fruits!

I went to try out my wedding gown over the weekend, and i had forgotten how heavy and long the gown was! And it was now toooooooo big for me, so they have to pin the sides and back so that I could walk around. But I was concern about the difficulty of moving about in it, because my wedding is semi outdoor, then the girl was assisting me brought over a new gown, she told me its was brand new, not worn and the beading details are still being worked on. She said I should try it because it's almost similar to the gown I picked.

The 2nd gown I tried was more simple looking (maybe because there were no crystals and beads on it yet), with lace details reaching to the hips. It was too big for me, so it looks a bit odd at first, then she pin it to fit me a little at the sides. i really like how it looked! The gown is very similar to a design I saw online that I really like and also similar to a gown my dad showed me online too!

Now I'm torn between both gowns, I really like them both for certain reasons but I've decided that I will try them on again once the details have been added on to the 2nd gown.

Mum and sis says I'm getting too thin....am I? I think I'm still alright, now that I have already completed the first 2 hardcore strict phase of the diet and am almost reaching my target weight.

Getting Hitched in 5 Months!

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT

Oh Lordy it's May already! How fast time flies!! Time to do a check list of the planning for The Day Part 1 and Part 2.

• Booking of Venues
• Booking of Wedding Gown
• Rental Evening Gowns
• Theme
• Wedding Invitation Designs
• Marriage Preparation Course
• Draft Guest Lists
• Draft Tea Ceremony Lists
• Draft Itinerary
• Fabric hunting for Bridesmaids dresses
• Down-size the ring (but recently discovered that the setting of the diamond is loose..got to send it back again...le sigh)
• Purchase Wedding Bands
• Recruiting Help for both days
• Some DIY props for Pre-Wedding Photoshoot and Video (WIP)
• Decoration planning with PR and HM (WIP)
• Wedding Favours (Need to discuss with the awesome pawsome baking master soon)
• Flowers (Comparing quotations)
• Wedding Gown Fitting (Soon....)
• Evening Gowns Fitting (Soon...)
• Pre-Wedding Photoshoot and Video Shoot
• Wedding Vows
• Wedding Speech
• Wedding Shoes

Hmm.....not sure if I missed out anything crucial as all these are just memorized at the back of my hand. I don't know about experienced wedding planners' schedule, but I think the Ninja Fiance and I have managed everything well so far.

And....a number of friends who knew I have been on the Dukan Diet for approximately 6 1/2 weeks now have been encouraging and pestering me to post a progress photo. So I finally did last night, and thanks to everyone for the encouragement. I so need to work on my photography skills, especially angles when taking self portraits.

New Love For ... Fish?

Normally I would opt out of having to purposely choose to eat fish from the menu, or beg my mum to allow me to skip the fish dish, because I really don't enjoy the fishy smell and taste (but I love having asam laksa). But recently mum has been buying salmon steaks for me because she doesn't want me eat chicken every day for every meal.

For my first attempt to pan fry a salmon steak, I thought it would be just the same as me cooking my daily chicken or fish fillet, so i decided to use a small pan. And boy was that a bad idea! I forgot that salmon has natural fat, and they will all ooze out when cooked. Oil was splattering and jumping everywhere!!! I couldn't even bring myself to go near the pan to flip the salmon! Mum had to come to the rescue. But the result, oh so delicious!

This morning was my second attempt to pan fry salmon, I picked the bigger pan, thinking it will be safer. I was wrong, again....splattering begins! But the oil didn't jump up as high as it did from the small pan, I managed to flip the salmon myself without getting burnt, and because the pan is big, I could tilt it to let the oil flow away from the salmon. Next time I'm using a cover....

Decided to experiment and made myself a tomato with tuna and shirataki noodle soup for dinner last Thursday night. Somehow it turn out looking like asam laksa! Mum told me to help eat finish some broccoli and mushrooms, also the little plate of fresh chilies that she didn't want to keep. Hence the attempt to decorate my meal. Those tiny red/orange chilies are one of my favorite, but are also my enemy, they really burn your lips and tongue!