Hi-speed wedding preparation

Technically I have 5-6 months before my wedding, but practically I don't really have that much time to spend on the preparation. So last Aug/Sep when I was home for Raya and my engagement, I managed to cross out most of the major things on my wedding checklist. 

I had the most hectic weekend of the year on the Merdeka weekend. I spent 3 days in Penang (Tue-Thu), drove back to Ipoh on Friday midnight, met with the photographer cum videographer on Friday morning, wedding planner (sort of) for Ipoh's reception on the evening, went around Ipoh to look for outdoor photoshoot venue, took a bus to KL at 6 pm, arrived in Puchong at 9 pm. The next day, we drove to Melaka for a wedding, rushed back to KL at 3 to meet the designer at 5 but of course we didn't  factor in traffic jam when we estimated what time we should leave Melaka. There was a massive traffic jam at Tol Sg Besi, so we made a U-turn 100 m from the toll booth and took Bangi exit and continued our journey to Bangsar. In the end I had to make a call to the designer to move the appointment to 6, but was told that the boutique closes at 6.30 on Saturday. It was 6 and we were somewhere in Puchong. Both of us were silent, a lot was going through my head because that was the only weekend I'd be in KL, so I thought there was no way I could make my wedding dress with the designer. Harris was also silent, maybe in his head he was thinking he better not say anything, afraid that I would end up in tears if he asked me whether I'm okay or not. We reached the area at 6.15 pm, I got off the car, called the girls who were already waiting for me at Pappa Rich while Harris went around looking for parking. Met the designer, discussed about the dress, and she asked to come again the next day to see the sketch and also to take measurement. (pheww that was a long one).

Then from there Harris left me with the girls because we were having our sleepover that night. Went straight to Jakel to buy kain for them, then off to Kekngah's house. Nope, the day was still long after that. In the car we were busy planning for Kekny's surprise birthday celebration. Me and Kekya in one car. Kekny and Kekngah in another car while Kekna was in the other. We arrived at Kekngah's place still with no solid plan. Golek-golek a bit, gossip a bit, then it was already 12 am. We haven't had dinner yet because from 8 pm we couldn't decide whether to eat out or call in delivery. And, still no solid plan on Kekny's birthday surprise. With eyes half opened, we went to Williams Danau Kota, finally came up with a plan, and ate and talked like nobody's business. Went back home at 2 ish, continued catching up till 3 ish before everybody dozed off. 

The next morning, I had another wedding to attend in Bangi and this time we actually left early to drive to Bangsar and even arrived earlier than the appointment time, we couldn't see the designer right away. Had Tutti Frutti just opposite the boutique and slowly taking our time walking up the stairs when it was time. After the appointment, went back to Harris's place to get ready to take the bus back to Ipoh at 6. Reached Ipoh at 9, and poor Harris he had to continue his journey back to Penang. 

And that was by far, the busiest weekend in my life. Everything was crammed to that weekend because it was my last weekend in Malaysia. I was a bit sad because Kekwa couldn't join us for the sleepover. It could be our last sleepover :(

But Alhamdulillah all the major things are now done, just waiting for the results (nervous!!). Hope everything turn out okay :)

Jakel with the girls.

I've always wished that on my wedding day I could doll up my girls in the same dress and all they have to do is sit around me, smile and simply be pretty :) Coz I malu malu kucing like that so segan to sit at the dais all by myself getting all the attention. Why do that when I can spread the attention to 9 other beautiful ladies hehe.

So off I went to Jakel again this time with the girls. I wish all of them could be there but of course it wasn't easy to gather 9 girls at the same time. It was raya season and everyone was still busy with open houses and whatnot.

Long story short, I already had the color in mind and we just had one hour to shop as we arrived quite late. I called the kakak who helped me with my purchase few days before, did some kenyit kenyit mata to the tauke/anak tauke/something like that, got the price quote I wanted and voila! 9 kain pasang ready for the girls. Hope they all like it and will look all pretty and dressy on the day :)

My beautiful companions :)

Konon-konon pening kepala kira budget lol.

Walked out from Jakel and found pasar malam. Cendol time!

p/s: God knows how packed that day was for me, will blog about it later :)

Engaged :)

Happy 1st monthiversary to us! Yeay!

LOL, this entry is so long overdue. It's been a month since Harris and I got engaged, Alhamdulillah for His blessing.

I actually don't know where and how to start this entry-how we got together or the preparation or how the day went yada yada yada. If I combined all together it'll too wordy so yeah I'll save some for later. For now let's just talk about the day.

A little inside stories:

1. That morning, most of my family members (aunties, uncles, cousins included) had really bad diarrhea. My sister had it first on the evening of the 1st Raya and we blamed the mee goreng mamak she had for tea that day. Came morning the next day, I woke up at 4 am to use the toilet, then my mom went at 6. When everybody woke up, we checked on each other, we even called kampung to ask if anybody there experienced the same. It turned out that almost everyone at my kampung had diarrhea as well. We now know who the real culprit was, rendang ayam! So when my auntie came to our house that morning, she gave me pills to eat. Man, I was panicking the whole time. What if I really cannot tahan and want to use the toilet during the sarung cincin time? Lucky it didn't happen pheww. After the sarung cincin thing was done and most people were at the khemah eating, my auntie took me to a corner and gave some pills again, this time they were green ones. Two times, 4 pills down the throat, I thought I should be fine for the day. Boy, was I wrong! When most people had left, I sat down with my friends to fill my growling stomach, and just two 'suap' in, my stomach couldn't take it I had to run to the toilet, in that pink dress! In the end, I only had my lunch at 6 that day. Story of my life.

2. I wish I was creative and had time to DIY my hantaran. Since I lacked both, I let the expert to do it. All my hantaran were done by my dear auntie. She has a shop in Seri Iskandar called Rampai Sari. So you bride-to-be, if you need help like I did, you know where to find her :)

3.  Guess who made the hantaran for Harris? His dad! His mom told me that during the fasting month, his dad would make the hantaran deco little by little, after sahur and before Maghrib. He even sketched each hantaran! So impressive okay.

4. Why did it on 2nd raya? Well, not only we had it on 2nd raya, but my brother also got engaged 3 days after I did. Haha! Two celebrations in a week! Well it was because my auntie who currently reside in Australia wanted to attend both ceremonies and she'd be going back to OZ on the 6th raya. She's like our second mother so we wanted to fulfill her wish. That was why we crammed it all in one week. This year's raya didn't really feel like a real raya to me because we were too busy preparing for both ceremonies. A twist to our regular raya routines :) 

5. Alhamdulillah most people came back to us saying that the catered food was really good. We were so thankful that my neighbor's sister was willing to cater the food for that day. It was for 2nd raya where most caterer wouldn't bother to take small orders like ours (baik dorang pergi beraya, unless order banyak berbaloi la korbankan raya). If not, our plan B was to cook the dishes ourselves, in which would involve a lot of stress women in the kitchen. LOL.

6. Harris and I decided to just exchange food and the likes for our engagement hantaran. My mom made pineapple tarts, butter cookies and pulut kuning for me :) And she also made the cookies for doorgifts and cupcakes for the candy booth. Fully sponsored by Mamunchkin Homemade Bakery :)

OK lah, enough inside stories already. Time for pictures! I thought of posting pictures from the official photographer SSgraphy, but I was already here when the DVD came and my cousin will only bring it to me next week so for now these pictures are from my cousin's camera and my iPhone.

Pictures from the OP here.

**

Thank you to all my family and friends who made that day a memorable one :)

And to Harris Arisyi, je t'aime mon cheri :)

I love you like a song baby.

Salam,

Aaaaheeeyyyy!!

Asyik-asyik cerita pasal how stressful life as a PhD student is, why not this time cerita pasal everything happy and dandy pulak. Rasa macam banyak nak bebel but will see how it goes lah after I write this whole thing up. 

Spring is near!! *bird's chirping* padahal 8 pm sekarang :P The weather is getting warmer these days, Alhamdulillah. Tapi I was reminded dari awal datang dulu, UK weather ni bukan macam US; US betul-betul ada four distinct seasons, walaupun kadang-kadang sampai bulan 4 pun still snow, tapi UK ni, sejuk/chilly je memanjang. Summer pun boleh jadi sejuk, ape cerita tu? Jadi harus prepare mental dan fizikal menghadap Spring/Summer yang macam Autumn/Winter huhu.

Hari Jumaat lepas, weather memang terbaik, jadi instead of taking the bus home, I walked :) Cannot waste a good weather one, rugi rugi. On the way balik tu, fikiran melayang ke musim bunga di bumi Rochester, wah gitu. Rindu bangat sehhh!! Spring is everyone's favorite season, I guess, with some exceptions of course because ada je kawan yang suka gila Winter -__- heh. Spring in Rochester lagi lah favorite sebab time tu lah keluar semua benda yang tak terkeluar time season-season lain. My batch and prolly the batch above can relate the most with 'The Spring Drama'..starring..me, you, and us hahaha. Asal Spring je ada drama, asal ada drama je Spring. My hypothesis is, disebabkan time Spring banyak activities, macam Malaysian Night (yang awesome tu), BBQ, gathering sana-sini, orang semua berkumpul lalu banyaklah ragam manusia yang lead to drama. Hehe

Speaking of BBQ and gathering, oh man what is Spring without BBQ and endless makan-makan/gathering. Time ni lah badan diisi dengan segala karbon lepas tu orang dok ingatkan, 'Tak baik makan BBQ banyak-banyak, karbon tu boleh buat cancer'. But since we are a bunch of keras kepala people, karbon tolak tepi, janji kenyang! Bila makan-makan sure lah ada aktiviti lain, we are not fat and keras kepala people okay, we know how to balance ihiks. So cara untuk bakar lemak-lemak tepu dari ayam BBQ tu ialah dengan bermain volleyball, karaoke SingStar sampai takde suara, dan juga main mafia. Okay kalau korang ingat karaoke and main mafia tak membakar lemak, memang korang silap besar. Berpeluh main mafia tau tak, hasil menjerit menuduh orang dan men-defend diri sendiri dari kena tuduh mafia. Karaoke plak bukan main-main, nyanyi lagu mendiang Whitney Houston Greatest Love of All, Toni Braxton Unbreak My Heart, korang hengat senang?? Berpeluh jugak nak tarik, lagi-lagi nak lawan si Mior. 

 Spring 2008 - Freshman Year

Siap bonfire lagik.

Spring 2009 - Sophomore Year

Spring 2010 - Junior Year

Main tuju/baling selipar

Yuerin jadi Yuna :P

Konon terer le yang baju kuning tu, padahal...

Spring 2010 jugak rasanya.

Ha yang ni tak ingat. Spring 2009 I think. 

Lihatlah pipi ku masih kempis.

Ni baru gambar BBQ, tu pn mostly the ones that I hosted. Gambar BBQ yang orang lain host tak masuk.  Aktiviti-aktiviti lain tak kira lagi. Looking at all these pictures, I instantly remember all the 'dramas' that happened during that particular Spring hahaha. Oh good times good times.

Kata entry happy and dandy kan, ini boleh jadi depressing jugak ni sebab dok ingat cerita lama. Uwaaaa rindu Rochester and the people. 

Seriously I can go on hours on end cakap pasal ni. Let's end it here. I think the best way to end this entry is to share this song with my Rochester buddies. I first heard of it when I went to watch 'Rent', a Broadway show in New York City with Jiji, Joe and Joe's gang (TQ Joe sebab kasi Jiji and I crashed the party :). When I speak of Rochester friends, mesti teringat lagu ni. Cerita 'Rent' ni pun pasal kawan-kawan :P So I dedicate this song to you guys, with a note, yang ada blog tu sila lah update!! Rindu seh nak baca blog korang macam dulu balik. As I am writing this, I actually went to your blogs and tolong cuci habuk kat blog korang. Haha. Update lah update lah!!

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

How about love?
How about love?
How about love? Measure in love

Seasons of love. Seasons of love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died.

It's time now to sing out,
Tho' the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Seasons of love!

Oh you got to got to
Remember the love!
You know that love is a gift from up above
Share love, give love spread love
Measure measure your life in love.

happy.com

I am generally a happy person. I believe, to be happy, it must come from you - how you shape your life, the decisions you make on a daily basis. It shouldn't depend on the surrounding, the people around you, the weather, how much money you have in your pocket yada yada yada.

I'd like to share these few tips with you about how I make myself happy, which you probably know already :P

1. Express love to your loved ones

I do this all the time, especially to my family and close friends. I go on Skype with my mom almost everyday. 'Sayang Adik' 'Sayang Mama' 'Love you Ma' 'Love you too baby' are common phrases to end our conversation.

Now, it's different with my father because he just doesn't talk very much. But whenever he passes Mama talking to me, he would stop and say, 'Hi baby!'. Yes, my parents still call me baby and I don't care at all, because that's how they show their love to me. And I love being 'gedik' with my dad by saying 'Love you Dadi' instead of the usual 'Ayah'.

I know a lot of people are finding it hard to express their love to their parents, which I find weird. Well I know you would say, 'Not saying I love you doesn't mean we love our parents any less than you do'. Yes I agree, but why can't you say it? Some say it's difficult because their parents don't really show/say/express it, so they feel shy to do the same. Well to me it should be a breeze, because I believe those love expressions are easily uttered when we were small. But why not now? What makes it so difficult? Weird, isn't it? I really wanna know why, if you could tell me in the comment box. 

With my close friends, sometimes we don't go by our names, but by 'Darling' 'Yang' 'Dear' 'Sayang' instead. It might seem small to you, but it makes a lot of difference, seriously. We feel more close, more intimate with each other. And with that it lets us to trust each other more. I really don't know how to explain this, but you should try. It's magic :P We don't have problems with saying 'Love you' or hugging each other (errr kissing to some small extent LOL). I know some people who are not comfortable being all 'mushy' with their friends, even best friends. Some people just don't like the 'touchy touchy' feelings. I guess you have to open up a little :P

Same goes to your crush. I know some of us girls are a little conventional about confessing to the guy. But hey, Imam Muda Asyraf pun cakap jodoh kena cari. It's not like you see a guy you like and you go to him and say, 'Hey I like you!'. There's so many ways around it. You can still be conventional, but with a little wit :P

Bottom line is, the more you express the love you have in your heart, it becomes bigger, and that allows you to have more room for love for other people. I hold the principle that, 'Life is short. If you don't say it now, you'll probably regret it once you lose that person because no one can be sure what could happen tomorrow'.

But you don't have to take my word for it, try it yourself. First with your parents :P Kalau kat crush/bf/gf beria cakap I love you I miss you bagai, but shy to say those to your parents, memang nak kena!!!

2. Celebrate little things in life.

I love to celebrate little things in life. I reward myself every time I achieve something, big or small. And the reward does not necessarily mean I have create a hole in my pocket, sometimes a bar of chocolate or a red velvet cupcake would do the trick :P

Being somewhat a joyful person, I love celebrations, of any kind - birthdays, parties, weddings, gatherings, reunions, a simple makan-makan, or even just an outing. It's hard for me to say 'No' because those mean 'happy time' for me so why should I avoid it?

To those wondering why I made a big fuss for not being able to attend my friends' weddings, or a kenduri of any kind, my answer is simple. It's not always we get to see and experience these beautiful things in life, and being someone who love celebrations, of course it's sad for me to not be able to come. But I am aware that this is the price I have to pay for being here, so takpelah, saya pasrah. InsyALLAH there'll be others that I could attend, kalau panjang umur. To my friends who are getting married this year, please know that I want to come so badly, but circumstances are not permitting :(

Actually there a few more I'd like to share, but this entry is longer that I intended it to be. Just two for now then :)

Let's log on to happy.com :)))

Homies.

Reminder: Super heavy with pictures entry.

This post is a reminder, to me, and to you girls, to show how far our friendship has gone. 

10 years and counting.

 

Last 16 months were great, amazing, awesome, wonderful, memorable, cheerful, beautiful and [insert any positive adjectives you could think of] because of these people. We did so many new things together. Out of 10 years of friendship, I must say, those 16 months were the best. I am blessed, Alhamdulillah.

October 2010- First roadtrip to Melaka

December 2010 - Bike riding @ Taman Botani Putrajaya

December 2010 - Our first IKEA meatball 

I swear it was a different white top, just the same shawl ;P

January 2011 - Izral's birthday @ Look Out Point, Ampang

Ni je yang ada semua. Blur pun bantailah.

January 2011 - Aizat's concert @ Bentley Music, Damansara

Our first time @ Wondermilk Cafe.

March 2011 - First musical theater; Terima Kasih Cinta @ Istana Budaya

March 2011 - Karaoke session till wee hours @ Wangsa Walk

March 2011 - Breakfast @ Levain

April 2011 - Second musical theater; Lat Kampung Boy @ Istana Budaya

April 2011 - Bee's Bachelorette Party

April 2011 - 12 hours roadtrip to Melaka (we just love Melaka ;P)

May 2011 - Kota Kinabalu, just the two of us :P

 

May 2011 - Bee's Wedding

June 2011 - My surprise birthday celebration @ Chili's KLCC

We were supposed to go to Penang in July, but everyone was busy :( Then came Ramadhan and Syawal. InsyALLAH we'll go to Penang someday.

September 2011 - Yuna's DFP Spotlight @ Dewan Filharmonik Orkestra

Malas beratur amik gambar dgn Yuna, dgn Sharifah Amani pun jadilah.

Last but not least,

September 2011 - My surprise farewell picnic @ City Park Seremban 2

 *

You girls are too kind.

I can never repay whatever you did to me.

I cherish our friendship so much.

Till death do us part.

Thank you mucho!

xoxo

p/s: I miss you all :(