.::. He's the cook! .::.

We've started staying over on Saturdays these 2 weeks, and have spent quite abit of time with the neighbors.  Time passes by so quickly, and we barely have enough time to do laundry and vacuum/mop the floor every weekend.

We spent Saturday night at the neighbor's place and I cooked 2 dishes.  They have been so nice to us, driving us around and borrowing things like drills and helping us get doorbells and what's not.  When our place wasn't ready and we were there to clean, we always had somewhere to drop by for dinner.  I'm so thankful to have nice neighbors and help just a few steps away.



Used my Le Cruset pot for the first time, cooking one of my favorite childhood dishes.



And tomato prawns, another of my personal favorite.



This was a group picture some time back, when we had steamboat.



And this is the husband, cooking for me the first time in the past 8 years.  It's also probably the first time he woke up before me (he usually snoozes and refused to get out of bed no matter how many times I nudge him).  To my horror, he was cooking when I got out to bed.  Very shocked indeed.



After almost 2 hours and using 4 pots, numerous spoons and bowls, I finally got to eat!  I didn't finish it, since it was really heavy as he boiled potatoes (his favorite) and chopped it up for the omelette.



Had to take a picture together to remember this special day.

I'm not so sure if I'd like him cooking in my kitchen, but I'm really very grateful for his effort.  But I think that getting him to cook a meal would probably take a full 8 hours with the preparation and cleaning. =p I guess he is really tired after preparing breakfast.

I have also started moving things over bit by bit.



This is the beautiful blackboard magnet door with my prized possessions and ugly handwriting.



And the feature wall in the middle of our living room houses a beautiful couple now.

I guess I can get used to waking up to home-cooked breakfast by the husband!

.::. Gratitude .::.

Today, we have finally chosen our sideboard, coffee table and lounge chair for the home.  All the pieces we have chosen are very classic and popular.  I love the sexy lines of the sideboard and coffee table, and I ended up choosing Scandinavian green for my Papa Chair. We've yet again burnt a hole in our pockets, and would need to be thrifty for the next 2 months. Solid wood furniture are really not cheap but I truly love every piece of furniture in our home.  They add so much warmth to the home.  *ouch*

I'm filled with so much love for our new home, and overflowing with gratitude for how everything has eventually turned out.

Thank you my dear.

Dear god, thank you for always blessing me and giving me a hand to fulfill all my dreams and visions.

Can't wait for them to be delivered, and it's time to get my gown altered and prepare the home for the photoshoot in barely 6 weeks.

.::. Day 2831 .::.

It's our 93rd month anniversary today.

We have been together for:

7 years, 9 months
93 months
2831 days
404 weeks
67,944 hours
4,076,640 minutes
244,598,400 seconds

May we have many more seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, days, months and years of happy memories together.

I'm really thankful to have someone here for me and always supportive throughout the time we’ve been together.  It has been a really rough and eventful year for us, but I do have faith that those put through the test emerge stronger than before. Together, anything is possible.  We stand secure in our love.

Wifey will always be here – you can count on me, like one, two, three, I’ll be there!  =)

You know I love you.

.::. Panic Attacked! .::.

It suddenly hit me that September is almost over, and I’ve like 15 more weekends before THE big day. I started panicking big time.

We are not even done with the house yet.  We have not bought TV console, coffee table, bed frame, side tables, study table and lounge chair.  We have not even bought a vacuum cleaner, curtains are not up yet too.  I’ve not packed for nor prepared for the move, the house is not decorated at all. And to add salt to the wound, they gave us solid top instead of granite for our toilet and it’s still a big question mark how things would end up.  Replacing it would burn at least another of our weekend and I’m worried that my plumbing would be affected.  I really have no wish to drag my carpentry misery. They can actually insist that ‘their records show that we wanted solid top’ when the contract, all communications and discussions including emails and SMS indicated that we wanted granite.  Who in the right mind would want black solid top which scratches easily and show ugly white lines when the price difference is negligible?  I just had another horrible nightmare about carpentry last night, dreamt that they gave me all different cream and ugly colors for my kitchen solid top, insisting that it was what I chose.  I was so angry that I broke down and woke up with puffy eyes.

I got down to listing all the to-do stuff, and the list is really long.  I’ve been doing things bit by bit everyday this week since the husband is away.  So I bought a huge bag of stuff from Ikea including curtain rods, got help from neighbor to install all my curtain brackets and rods, got containers and stuff from Daiso and got the brother to help collect my dining chairs and curtains today.  Last weekend, the girls dropped by and delivered the kitchenaid to my doorstep too.

Many thanks to those who helped, no thanks to those who made things so difficult for us.

It’s time to start wedding preparations, although I really do not look forward to it at all.  To me, I’m already married and he’s already my husband, and it doesn’t really matter whether or not we have a ceremony – it’s just for show isn’t it?  But the show must go on.  I’m going to send my dress for alteration by next weekend, fixed my pre-wed photography date and did up a timeline for the rest of the stuff.  There’s so much details to take care of, and at times it really feels like a one-man-show and Jan can’t do so much all at once.  Jan doesn’t even have enough sleep, let alone groom myself and workout to look beautiful on my big day.

At times, it really takes so much to be in control of everything.  Jan’s on it!

.::. New Beginnings .::.

It’s already my 4th week at the new job. It’s a pretty big change from the previous job.  For one, I now start work at 8am and the alarm rings at an unearthly hour of 6am. I crawl out of bed when the skies are still dark and follow dad’s car out with my sisters who go to school.

It’s like going back to school, and it’s tough for me since I’m really not a morning person. The first day was hell, it took so much to concentration to stay awake and absorb new stuff. It got better as the week progressed, and I’m trying to sleep by 11pm (or latest by midnight) these days.

Work wise, it’s all good. So much to learn, a lot more technical things to know. From reading about alcohol and the luxury industry to cementing is a huge change, yet there’s something about oil and gas that fascinates me. It’s just like banking, fascinating yet somewhat a bore.

I love my huge work area (almost twice my old desk), the huge pantry that is stocked with the usual beverages and fresh milk for my coffee and Japanese green tea (no more Lipton green tea that makes me giddy), how everyone starts knocking off by 430pm, how the intranet has a huge wealth of information, how everything is so systematic and results oriented, how everyone seem to know their roles well, the decent notebooks and Pilot G2 pens (ex-company gave really lousy notebooks and cheap ball point pens despite being in the luxury industry), the staff-pass with my face on it, how little money I spend daily.

I dislike the location (super far especially if I want to head to town after work) and early hours (yet I like knocking off at 5pm), dislike it that I can’t have good lunches (but I like saving money). I reckon the worst part is the location and having to wake up so early! The husband keeps laughing at me, telling me that I’ll get used to it. It’ll be great after I move over to the new place and can start cooking dinner by 6pm or going to jog after work.

Meanwhile, it’s all about working towards our future together.  There’s so much going on, so much to do, so much to think about, so much to plan.  I’m still in search of that perfect job that pays well.

.::. Day 93 .::.

Today, we celebrate another little milestone in our journey. We had our first meal at our home. We sat down and finished the last 2 episode of Amazing Race on the sofa. We cleaned our home the first time together - he vacuumed while I mopped.  The home is almost ready now, and it really feels like home.

View from entrance.

View from kitchen.

Dining table with bench.

Living area.

View from corridor.

View from sofa.

Corridor.

MBR mattress (we haven't bought a bed frame). Surprisingly, we still have quite abit of space in the room!

The fridge came later in the day, and the shoe cabinet is not getting enough attention since my door is always open. I love the entrance's crystal light.

The kitchen looks like this now.

There's so much to be thankful for, so much to look forward to and so much to celebrate.

I'm thankful for such a great and loving husband, such nice neighbors (they got me a 'opening soon' and 'open' sign plus a door stopper for my 'cafe' and even drove me to grocery shopping and carried them up for me), really supportive parents who helped me moved stuff and waited for my deliveries while I was at work, amazing friends who will visit and bring my kitchenaid over tomorrow!

Really looking forward to afternoon tea with the girls tomorrow.  =)

.::. Day 92 .::.

Most of our living room furniture is here. We have not bought a console, a coffee table and a mirror for above the sideboard.

The fridge, washing machine, mattress and chairs will come tomorrow!









Loots from Franc Franc.



Colorful things.

Shall take more pictures tomorrow.

.::. Week 13 .::.

Have been updating my renovation progress more diligently at the Renotalk T-blog than here.  It's been very tiring these few weeks, and I'm always rushing somewhere with a long to-do list. With the new job and carpentry issues, we are really up to our neck.

We've arranged for furniture/appliances delivery this Friday and Saturday.  And my parents have been so nice to help me move stuff over when I'm at work. They must be really eager to see me move out, totally more excited about moving stuff over than me.  My mum probably emptied half her kitchen stuff and moved it over. =_="

Some pictures of completed renovation, before things are moved in.























I'm really excited about having the furniture in! =)