The past few days had been an effort to get past jet lag, overall laziness, lethargy and slight depression. It’s now Friday and I’m still surviving. After one month of fun, who wouldn’t feel depressed getting back to work? But unless you’ve won the lottery, or inherited a fortune, life needs to go on and not everyday is a holiday …

So, I’m alright.

Hey guys, guess who’s back! Yep, got back on Sunday, slept most of the Monday, and now I’m at work. And life goes back to normal again … I haven’t really wrote about my wedding day, so I’ll try and do that in a few days.

Have fun.

Hey all! Sunday January 18 was my wedding day. Didn’t have time to update my blog, but here goes.

I wasn’t supposed to see Doug one day before the wedding, so we spent Jan 17 doing our own stuff. He was busy getting the logistics part in place, like getting the wedding car, driving it to the wedding shop to get decorated, the seating arrangements for the dinner, etc. For me, I had the Video Slideshow to complete, and I was also going to meet my two friends for a body scrub and massage. It was a Balinese style spa, and it was much better than the one I went to earlier in the week. They used real ingredients like orange juice and honey, and what was good about it is that the room had an attached shower, so you don’t have to walk out for a shower and then walk back into the room for the massage - everything can be done in one place. The massage was relaxing, and I was feeling the nervousness for the day ahead.

I honestly lost track of the days. What I DO know is that our BIG day is less than 10 days away … and its nerve-wrecking. I have a couple more spas to go to, a church rehearsal tonight, dental appointment tomorrow, a final fitting, manicure on Friday, and Saturday, a rest day for me for the big day on Sunday. I don’t know how we could get this all done all under a month, but kudos to ALL my friends and relatives for making it happen. This day is for all of them.
Gotta go for now, later!

I slept in this morning and woke up at about 10:30am. D was coming over with photo albums of his baby pictures, so we could choose a few for the slideshow. Most of the afternoon was spent doing that. I kinda realize the importance of taking pictures, even though the camera only captures happy moments, they are afterall snapshots of our lives, and we forget easily, so these pictures will help us remember the lives we have spent, the people we have laughed and cried with etc etc. It was all very nostalgic for me.

I met with my two closest friends for dinner - Alice and Sarah. It was just awesome to see them again - the last time we met was 2 and a half years ago. Lots of things to catch up, so little time! After dinner at Crystal Jade, we made our way to The Baker’s Inn for dessert and coffee. They close at 10pm, so we headed to a Turkish Cafe on the other side of town for another drink. We talked about everything, the wedding, what’s new with them, etc etc. We also took some pictures. I’ve known them since Secondary School, and I’m grateful that we are still close friends.

I had the chance to visit the fish farms this morning as D’s uncle needed to pick up some cichlids for his shop. Driving into the more rural areas of Singapore, I was fondly reminded of California and the lush greenery of the hills and areas untouched by urbanization. It was great to not be surrounded by high-rised buildings for a change. This area that we went to, Sungei Tengah, has rows of vegetable farms, nurseries, and of course, fish farms.

I remember the time when I was crazy over ornamental fish, especially African Cichlids. I used to have about 3 tanks in my room, and its a wonder how I was able to tolerate the sound of bubbling water from the filtration devices. Being in the States I couldn’t really set up a tank since we rented, and moving a well set up aquarium would be a living nightmare. I felt my love for aquarium keeping was rekindled after this trip to the fish farm - we saw African Cichlids, Guppies, Goldfish, and all kinds of Tetras. It was great. At least I was doing something else and not just focused on the wedding all the time.

After lunch I had to go back to the Wedding Shop for a trial make-up session, that wasn’t something I looked forward to.

I met up with my childhood friends Belinda and Angeline for dinner at Bugis. We had Sushi, and I tell you the place was ultra-cool! They had conveyor belt sushi, but you were able to sit in the booths and not just the counters. Each booth has a screen and a mouse, and you could choose from their computerized menu, and click the quantity you want. They even had hot water dispenser in every table. It was impressive. I gotta go back to that place again!

Jan 7, 2004

We spent the better half of the day settling some visa matters, and then at about 5pm, we headed down to the Wedding Shop again to choose our photos. We were given 40 pics to choose from, but in the end we chose …. *drum roll* …. 200! Yes we are crazy! heheh …

Jan 5, 2004

Today we went to a couple of florists to discuss the floral decoarations needed for the wedding dinner, as well as decorations for the church. That took up more than half the day, and after that we shopped at Orchard Road again. We had our rings engraved with the date as well as each other’s names. Sweet huh.
At HMV, I was so happy to get the Pet Shop Boys’ album “Closer to Heaven”, which was virtually impossible to get in the US, and we also bought the new Miram’s Greatest Hits album, and a clearance 2Unlimited greatest hits collection.

Have you heard of MOGU? Its a brand of pillows/cushions that uses foam beads as fill, and the texture is awesome. Price is a pretty high for just a cushion, but I really really liked the dog shaped one. S$63, anyone?

I can finally have a breather right now. The last week has been a blur of activities all related to the wedding. I guess I was too ambitious trying to document each day as it happened - I just didn’t have the time to do so. I usually get back after 10am everyday, exhausted from the day’s events.

I’ll just add a note or two for days 4 till today on the events that happened.

Day 4: Dec 29, 2003
We went to Marina Mandarin to meet the Rebecca, who was in charge of making arrangements for the night’s dinner. That was the first time we got to see the Ballroom. I took some pictures as well as the floral designs, so we could have a good idea on how we want the flowers to be arranged, and what type. After the meeting we were on our own so we went shopping at Orchard Road. We needed to get our wedding bands, shoes, etc.

Day 5: Dec 30, 2003
In the morning we dropped by the Wedding shop again today to confirm the outfits and stuff. Once that was done, I went for a facial for the very first time today. It was a shop called Leonard Drake, recommended by D’s uncle. It was definitely very relaxing and soothing to have someone rub nice-smelling chemicals and steam blowing in your face, not forgetting that great head and shoulder massage. I can definitely get used to this! hehe. Oh I forgot to mention, this shop is located in a new neighborhood town center called Sengkang, and it was a first for me to visiting this new area.

Day 6: Dec 31, 2003
New Year’s Eve! Today is the day for my hair, so we went to Supercuts at Novena, and I had my hair trimmed and permed. Output wasn’t so bad, my hair looks “bouncier” than my previous do. In the evening we went shopping for wedding bands. We’d looked at many shops - Lee Hwa, GoldHeart, Tiffany, and Poh Heng, and finally we settled on a simple yet elegant band with a little square diamond as a centerpiece. We even had a 20% end of the year discount, which was great. We had dinner at a hawker center in Clementi, and tried to find a place where we can do the New Year Countdown, but there isn’t anywhere except Sentosa, which I didn’t really feel like going, so we ended up going back to D’s place, and watched the countdown on TV. Talk about boring people! lol!

Day 7: Jan 1, 2004
Ahh, HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody! I tried to keep it slow and relaxing today to prepare myself for the photo-shoot the next day. In the morning I went for a manicure - can you believe it, its a first time for me, getting my nails done. Since my nails weren’t long enough, I had fake ones glued on, which turned out really cool looking. After my nails, I was really sleepy, so D drove me home, and I slept from about 3PM to 8PM. Mom and Dad bought dinner back for me and my brother, and after dinner, I just went back to sleep, “refueling” for the long day ahead.

Day 8: Jan 2, 2004
Ahhh, Photo-shoot day. We are supposed to be at the Studio at 830am for a make-up session before the shoot. My make-up took about 2 hours to be done, where I was dolled up with thick makeup for studio photo taking purposes. I get exhausted just thinking about this day’s events, as we took a total of at least 150 photos, I had 5 outfit changes, and we had indoor and outdoor photo shoots. Whew! Places we went to for phototaking included Esplanade, the Merlion, and Tanah Merah. I feet hurt really bad after that because of my new high heeled shoes. I’m still recovering from that day 3 days after that. My hope is that the photos we have taken turn out well, or all the efforts would have been in vain.

Day 9: Jan 3, 2004
The weekend is here again, not that it matters to both of us - we are on vacation! But the weekend also means that more friends and family can join us, be it for dinner or just hang out. Mich and D arrived at my place in the morning, and we headed off for my dental appt where I had scaling and polishing done. I also bought a pack of teeth whitening kit from the dentist, which I had to use that very night. After the dentist we were at Sengkang again for another round of facial. This time, all the actions done were not as fascinating anymore compared to the first time I did it.

Day 10: Jan 4, 2004
After Mass in the morning, we met with a sweet couple who will help us with the printing of the Mass Booklets, and wedding favors. After that we went to D’s uncle’s Aquarium Shop for a little while, then had dinner, and went back.