The Annual Greed-List Part Deux

Dear All,

Just wanna say a huge THANK YOU! for all the wonderful presents and affection showered on me during this Christmas season and also for my birthday =) I am incredibly blessed and lack nothing in life, even before the bounty I've received as of today =)



Thanks for being a part of my life, for being a part of who I am today, and for taking an interest in what happens in this lil corner of the internet. Thanks for all the LOVE!

I hope in some way, I'll be a blessing to you too in the coming year =)

Blessed Christmas! and have a wonderful 2010 ahead of you =)



PS: It's my last year as a twenty-something. WOE.

Musings on Married Life

Intuition and I have officially enjoyed 3 months of married life. That's Mar, Apr and May. I've gotten more used to the idea that I won't be going home to my parents and my brother, and he's gotten used to not having clothes back in his wardrobe on time.

Some fun observations...
You know that you really should do your laundry more often when your laundry-challenged husband starts looking for clothes in the "Clean Laundry Basket" instead of the wardrobe.

Your sleeping habits used to affect no one but yourself, but now, it affects your other half. Sleeping with aircon / without aircon? Blanket / no blanket? The fan is too strong / I can't feel it! And of course, the battle of boundaries... ("You encroached into MY sleeping space last night! I was left with this small strip of space! Mooove!")

You know that it's your own home when you have to clean your own toilet. Floor getting slippery? Can't wait for mum to scrub it, get down to it! Hair choking the drainage? Pick it up yourself, gross or not. Out of toilet paper? Tough luck babe, remember it the next time you go to NTUC.

When we split laundry chores, Intuition doesn't seem to agree with me that if I wash the clothes (ie throw it into the washing machine), it's only fair that he hangs it. Why is it not fair, I fail to see.

My shopping is now accountable to someone else other than myself, and we're both trying to cut down on our usual spending cos there are bills to pay (gasp! being financially responsible! the R word!) and groceries to be bought. The funny thing was I thought we will spend less after we're married as we can save on transport and eating outside (we cook about once a week), but the bills come in too faithfully every month and groceries, while cheaper than eating out, aren't all that cheap either.

Another observation... before getting married, thoughts like "will I be bored of his company within 2 weeks, as it's just me facing him facing me?" crossed our minds and we talked about it with respective friends. That never happened. We're far from being bored in each other's company--simple things like going to the hawker centre for dinner followed by aimless exploration of a new neighbourhood feels better cos it's done with your spouse. Cleaning up the house in clothes that can pass for rags doesn't make the other any less attractive. Married life is good, because it's shared with the right person =)

When you're happily married, have family and friends close by, have a nice roof over your head and have job security, life is so good, it's almost unfair. =)

An Intuitively Quirkie Romance

The wedding's all done and the honeymoon's a blast. It was a really special day for us, which says alot, given our cynical and pragmatic natures.

For friends who weren't able to share the special day with us, let me share with you here a lil something Intuition and I did for the day's programme... a presentation on how we met and what we liked about each other, saccharine stuff like that =)

A lil anecdote about the song chosen:
We were thinking for the longest time, what song should we use for our presentation. We have already nailed down all the other songs, for the processional, recessional and even the background music for the buffet. Much as we tried, we still couldn't decide on a song for the presentation.

A default song I had at the back of my mind was Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours", but Intuition wasn't so keen on it as a good friend of his already overplayed it at his wedding recently.

So at work, on my msn nick, I advertised my need for Jason Mraz's mp3s, and a colleague told me that a popular song is "Lucky"--a song I've never heard before. After listening to it, the part about it that really clinched it for me was how I'm lucky to be in love with my best friend, and I thought I'd use the song as a surprise for Intuition.

That very same evening, he called and told me he's already found a song he wanted to use for the presentation. And he played the mp3 over the phone, and lo, it was "Lucky". Likewise, he's never heard of the song prior to that same day. And we both decided, quite independently, that this is THE SONG for the presentation.

We're definitely lucky ;)



Enjoy!

Honey, Go Where?

Planning for the wedding and house and the rest of our lives have been really quite fun so far. We have found a suitable unit for our home, yays to that, and have been busy looking for contractors and suppliers for the renovations. The bulk of our expenses really comes from the renovations, and yet this is one thing that is hard to skimp on. If we save and get el cheapo cabinets, will the decision turn around and bite us 3-5years down the road? How about air-con for the living area--to do or not to do? And the list goes on and on and on... We are honestly quite afraid of what the final bill will be. As it is, the guesstimates are breaking our combined bank accounts. Still, it has been an enjoyable process.

One of the funnest thing to do in the wedding prep is to plan and decide on a honeymoon destination. This is one trip where you don't have to think about saving on hotels and food, for it is THE reason to splurge. No budget hotels nor backpacking inns for this holiday, no sirree =) What we have to think about is what we want in the trip -- great view of nature for him, some shopping spots for me -- and find an exotic enough location to do it! So fun, right?

With these in mind, we have shortlisted 3 places based on weather (we want cool weather, but not too cold), scenery, the abundance of good food and how interesting that place is without being too busy and touristy. We will likely go as free and easy as possible. These are our 3 choices, can you leave a vote and comment on which you think is good and why? OR if you have another suggestion that fits our wants, please let me know too!
Intuition & QuirkieKai's Honeymoon Destinations:
- Australia --> Melbourne, Tasmania
- Japan --> Hokkaido
- Greece =)

Arigatou gozaimasu!!

Of Weddings and Tough Love

So I've been busy trying to get the various things needed for the wedding. Who knew weddings are so much work... and so much money too, if I may add. Most of which are really unnecessary to me. Like, I don't see the point of spending over $3k for a dress that you're going to wear for half a day, and for having a grandiose wedding banquet at a 5 star hotel which quite frankly, benefits only the hotels rather than the couple and the guests. I don't like paying $100 for dinners where the food is mediocre and sit around in a table with people I hardly ever meet during the course of everyday life. I mean, to put it into perspective, I hardly even blow $100 to go out for a meal with Intuition or my family!

So we're having the banquet at a nice small restaurant, reputed to serve good food =) The ambience isn't that fantastic, but the menu's looking really good so far and I'm happy with the rate we're paying. There will definitely be a church wedding =) I have asked my dear blur friend Gara to be the bridesmaid, and she asked me a very interesting question over MSN this morning.

She : btw...do u think u are bridezilla material?
Me : i hope not!! !!
She : ok...i hope so too!
Me : wahahaha... what if i turn out to be the biggest bridezilla there ever will be?!???
She : yeah if i'm gonna be the bridesmaid i'm sared....
Me : will u still be my friend??
if i verbally abuse the world arnd me..
throw my 4inch heels at the caterer for giving me the wrong shade of ivory...
tear apart the flowers that have got a tiny speck of bruise in them...
She: we'd better remember it's 15 years of friendship!!!
15 years!!
Me : what if i do all these and more!!
She : i think u need a whacking by then'
Me : wahahahaha
She : i'll hum the jaws theme at u if i see u displaying bridezilla signs
Me : hahaha! u shd bring a dorsal fin along too!
wave it frantically at me if i start frothing at the mouth and telling the pastor off for using singlish when preaching :P
She : haha, i have a dolphin toy..
Me : okay, that'll do
though i can't be held responsible if i change my mind on that day and insist on a proper dorsal fin rather than a soft toy. :P
afterall, I AM a leetle bit anal.
She : u get whacked right on the head with that dolphin toy
Me : =( i dun like this violent bridesmaid very much.
She : heehee...u can still change ur mind...but i'll stil like to be brideziller whacker :P i practice tough love.
Me : tough. is most tough.
She : yes

Of Carrots and Other Tales

Speechless for now--so many things to say, no time to say it, yet I must announce it somehow some way. Let the picture do the talking =) Suffice it to say that there will be major changes in Intuition's and my life up ahead! What a journey =)