.it's official

Hello readers (if any of you are still following my blog, that is),

I would like to take this opportunity to announce my marriage to SF.
Yep, after being together for 9 years and 11 months!

Everything is still the same I guess, except that we now have that official piece of paper in our drawer. :)

I am one happy bride I tell ya! I got myself a lovely MTM dress on my recent trip home to Malaysia for a really good price.
And I met an inspiring florist here in Melbourne who created my bouquet as well as the man's boutonnière!
I have to say that these are the nicest bouquet-boutonnière combo I have ever seen. Hehe.

Anyway, it's all done. My parents got a new son; my siblings got a new brother; I got a new set of parents and siblings.
Most importantly, I now have a husband and I am someone's wife.

--

On an unrelated note, we have just gone through our engagement photo session a little over a week ago with a really fun-loving photographer who couldn't stop cracking us up the whole time! Will share links to the photos when they are ready! :)


Dress: Sweet Princess Boutique Wedding
Flowers: Botanics Melbourne
Venue: Old Treasury Building

.the Big "E"

I'm the luckiest girl in the world!!! :)

.it'll be over soon

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. – Dr. Seuss

.all-time low

There are times when I feel so positive and would keep telling myself that everything will be fine, all I need is time.. But there are also times when I feel an all-time low – I just don't want certain things to change, even if it is the best solution.

I don't want to get into too much details about what's happening, but I really hope this big change won't have too much of an impact on me in the end.. I am still hoping to see light in the tunnel some day.

I guess it's up to me now – I'm the only person who can help myself stand up again. How am I actually going to do it? I don't know..

I seriously hope that all I need is time, and that things will get better soon.



On a random note, I actually didn't realize that daylight savings came back again today until noon.

.torn between two OS's

Android or iOS?

I started to fall in love with the Samsung Galaxy Note after watching Rooftop Prince about a month ago. The big screen and stylus is just so useful – it's something that an iPhone doesn't have.

And SF owns a HTC Sensation XL – screen is pretty big, which makes me jealous sometimes! >___<

But I really love everything about the iOS – it's just so intuitive and easy to use and not to mention, the interface is so pretty! : 3

And I find that the Android interface takes a while to get used to – not a big deal, considering that I will get used to it eventually.

But I love my iPhone's music play list – everything is just there! (yea yea I know it's the same with Android but... iPhone's play list.. IS JUST THERE, there's is no need to search like hell for a particular song.)

Ahhhh... What do I dooooo? I can't just sign for a Note 2 (when it comes out) and then get an iPhone 5 if I end up disliking the Android interface..

Call me fussy, but I love the fact that I could use, and view emoji, on Instagram – and I am a heavy-duty Instagram user.

And iPhone 4s' camera is great – I haven't been carrying another camera out since I got the phone.. I wonder how the Note 2's camera is! :)

Oh, and I heard there are heaps of free apps on Android as compared to iOS. That's quite handy to know..

A bunch of people around me, including my not-very-tech-savvy sister, have recently swopped their iPhones for an Android phone – from HTC's all the way to Sony Xperia's, and they haven't looked back since. I wonder if I will cope just as well as them. My sister actually claimed that Android is a whole lot easier to use than iOS! O_O

....I am so confused! I guess I should muck around with SF's HTC a bit more, just to see if I could get the hang of the Android interface.

.the new sleep pattern

I am still pretty awake, despite waking up at 7.25am this morning.

Well, I guess this is a "change-for-the-better", since I used to sleep in till at least 10.30am...!

Ever since SF started this new job, he has to wake up early so he could catch the train and get to work on time.. This has somehow affected my sleep pattern too.

First week was pretty bad, I was groggy and sleepy and unhappy for the whole week.

Second week got better, although I was still a little unimpressed with having to wake up so early.

Third week was neutral, no complaints there.

And this is the fourth week of sleeping and waking up early. Somehow, this feels pretty normal.. And I have also picked up a new habit of eating breakfast.

I find that I could do so much more by waking up early.. Oh and not to mention, time seem to slow down a little too, which is just what I need considering the BIG amount of work I have to do (sigh).

Oh well, it's back to work now... Although I wish I could be given a little more appreciation for the effort I am putting in.

.9 years together

The honeymoon period is long gone but there is an increase in "chemistry" on a daily basis.

<3 !

.I need more 3G data

Well maybe there's already something like that in Australia, but I was wondering, like, wouldn't it be better if we could "customize" our mobile phone plans?

For example, a person like me prefer conversing over iMessage and What's App rather than calling (I'm not good with this whole verbal communication thing, really) would benefit from extra 3G data's. I would prefer to have 70% data and 30% call/SMS.

Alternatively, for people like my parents who call people all the time rather than text, they would want more call time than data plan, so maybe they could go for 90% call/SMS and 10% data.. or even 100% call/SMS and pay for data per MB.

Yea??? You agree with me???

And so I hope that Telco companies could start altering their phone plans a little bit – just because something worked 5 years ago doesn't mean it will work in another 5 years time... right?

Yep, that would be all for tonight. Peace.

.the bridesmaid experience

First of all, congratulations XK + LX for tying the knot! And secondly, this is like, the most casual yet funky wedding I have ever been to!

Also, this is the first time I have gotten involved with a wedding planning, so it was all fun and nice!

And and and, this is my first bridesmaid experience, AND I caught the bouquet!!! !!! !!!

The best part of the day is probably during the tea ceremony between the bride + groom and the bride's parents, when XK called his new mom-in-law ("MAAAA, have tea!!!") loudly. Haha!

Ohhh.. It was so good! :) :) :)

Can't wait to do their pre-wedding photo shoot! Or maybe we should call it post-wedding since it is to be done 4.5 months after their wedding day. :)

.life experience

A lot has happened in the short spam of a month, and they are both good and bad. Well mostly bad, but it's still a good lesson.
I'm not going to elaborate here as the whole story is a little too personal... I was feeling crummy about it for a week and I guess I'm alright now, slowly picking up where I left off.

--

So, here are the random updates.

A lot of people are getting hitched this year, it seems. On my side, there are three couples tying the knot! >_< I'm so going to take this opportunity to build up my wedding photography portfolio. :) :) :)

And and and we are doing our pre-wedding portraits early next year!!! I've been dying for this to happen and we're finally getting it done. I'm in the middle of all that booking/researching/theme planning so it's all very exciting to me! ^_^

In the mean time, I guess I'll have to try and get more (pre-wedding) clients so I can fund my own pre-wedding photo shoot. :)

--

Before I end this post, here's a photo collage of my first attempt with omurice. :)

.de facto

'nuff said. :) :) :) :) :)

.about lying

I mean, white lies are okay as long as it doesn't cause serious harm to anyone.

But is it really? How much is too much?

I'm really confused, because I don't know if it's right to lie to someone just to make them happy for a while, especially if they are people who are very important to you in life.

Since young, I've always been taught that honesty is the best policy.. But now, I'm not too sure about it.

-------

Maybe for now, I should just go along with the white lie and make everyone happy, and deal with the problems later.

.desire

I don't want uncertainties anymore – I just want everything to back to normal and I just want a stable life. No more dramas, please!

sorry for the impromptu hiatus - thought I should do a little bit of update.

so.. let's start with the big thing.

the big thing is.. I moved to a new place.. not just another new place, but a SHARE house! I never thought I'd be able to share a place with someone but I thought I'd try anyway, since this is the very last chance for me to do so. it's all good considering that my housemate and I each get our own bedrooms and bathrooms, so loads of private space, really. :)

in other news, I'm still in an LDR.. and I'm getting really scared. it's been well over 1.5 year now and we still don't know how long we've got with this LDR thing.. :(

also... I'm in the midst of planning a little something for my future right now... Some of you may already know what it is but I think I should probably reveal it here later when everything is confirmed.. so.. good luck to me!

...anything else I missed out?

.not myself bc of the weather

It has been raining since Tuesday afternoon and I'm totally unimpressed. Sure, it's good for sleep-in's and all but I'm sure most of us can't afford to sleep-in and be late for lectures/tutorials and work.

I love it when it rains Friday or Saturday night and that's about it – I don't like raining marathons, and I hate it most when it happens on Monday morning.

C'mon sunlight, don't be shy, come back to us, we miss you! >.<

Well, today's weather is significantly better I guess, albeit the on and off sunlight.. At least there was some sunlight!

.this time next year...

the suburban backyard.

i've never felt so uncertain about life before... this is like, the first time where i have no idea what will happen this time next year.

so.. this time next year, will I

– still be in Melbourne?

– have a job?

– be able to quit this LDR thing and see SF everyday?

– be granted Permanent Residency in Australia? – I have been waiting for well over 2 years now.

yep, those are my primary concerns.. how much of these would I have fulfilled by May 2012? can I fulfill them all? or at least 1/2 of them?

i just want to get rid of all the uncertainties so i can move on and start planning for my future... :(

.possessed?

:(

I think I'm possessed....... By the procrastination monster..

And I guess this is common among students.. But I really can't afford to put off my work till tomorrow, day after tomorrow, ...

I'm already weeks behind schedule.. And I have to meet up with my supervisor tomorrow – totally stressed out about this because I am not sure if I have done enough over the Easter break.

Argh.. What am I gonna do... I used to be able to concentrate a lot better... Is it the caffeine? Maybe it's the caffeine. Or maybe it's my desk/chair – not ergonomic enough. Can't really switch to better ones since I have limited budget this year.

Perhaps I should spend this whole weekend at uni. Yup, I'll do that.

.just sayin'

a toy choo-choo

It would be nice if I could have a son one day - I'd love to buy up all the tracks in the toy store and build a mini-giant train track in the whole house for my boy.

LOL, okay, maybe this is just an excuse – I AM the one who wants the mini-giant train track. Not the future husband and son.

.don't date guys who took business major?

(will place an appropriate photo up later on)

two of my girl friends came over to my place a couple of weeks back and we had a good time catching up and talking about non-final-project related things. one of the interesting topics of the day was "what kind of a guy are you looking for?"

now, this was my question, to the both of them, who are currently single.

one said she don't mind a designer, a non-multimedia-design one.. perhaps an architect or industrial designer.

the other don't mind engineers, or designers.

"and what about business?" i said.

"NO!!!!!" they replied together.

"why not???" i asked (amused at this point, because SF is a banking/finance guy).

"they're cheapskate." "they are tight with money." were their replies.

haha! well sure, i agree with them, but as long as they know their limits, it's cool. SF would only try to stop me if i were making big purchases, like a new camera. but from my experience, i reckon business-guys are better with money management, and they have the tendency to plan for the future earlier than their peers from other majors. the "tight with money" bit does get on my nerves sometime, but 90% of the time i reckon it's great.

i suck with money management, so i think it would be great to have someone whom i can trust to help me with my finances (with the exception of telling me NOT to buy anything).

so yeah, girls, if you're still in uni and single, go to the business school section and find someone.. that is, if you want a comfortable retirement life!

LOLOLOL.

.yes no yes no yes no

Lens. Time for a new lens, I reckon? The last one I bought was an Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM and that was 3 years ago.

I've been going back and forth between an ultrawide and prime – the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM or the EF 50mm f/1.2L II. Both cost well over a thousand dollars... Australian dollars (we all know how the Aussie dollar has been shooting upward like there's no tomorrow).

TT_______TT

So.. What's my conclusion?

None.

Not getting either lenses for a while..... Because...

I'm saving up for a dream wedding photographer (research done) – I reckon it's the most important element in a wedding ceremony because it's going to stay with you for a life time. I probably won't want to get angry every time I open up my wedding photograph album simply because of crap photography. This will be good money well-spent!

And um nope, I'm not getting married yet – I just want to save up in case it's happening in the next few years.

Seriously, there is no signs of wedding bells on my side just yet! Top priority for us right now is to earn as much money as we can while we're still in our 20's. :)