trippy

hello! dah lama sangat tak update. used to wonder kenapalah orang lepas kahwin, mula jarang update blog. now dah kena pada diri sendiri.. baru lah saya faham.

rupa-rupanya life after marriage is different. a better kinda different

we’ve been busy every weekend. mesti ada je yang harus dibuat. or simply catching up with his family at his place di bukit panjang. it’s been good. however i have to admit that i do miss hanging out with my sisters in the weekends too. perhaps we need to learn how to strike a balance between both families.

he’ll be flying off next monday. 3 months.

and i’ll be joining him in june for two weeks, insya allah. leave has been approved and my ticket bought

husband said i may choose one place we may go during my trip there. kirakan macam honeymoon lah gitu *grins* i have yet to decide where……

in the mean time. hello uk.

it’s this weekend!

oh my! the sanding will be this weekend! *gasps*

this panten has been busy with work, running errands and some unneccessary drama in between.

all i can say is, i have made the decision that this is the right time to execute the plan, altho at the worst of times too because because. words in riddles.

the plan is to put family first (something that i have always known and wanted all along), and career at the backseat.

some might call it ‘sacrifice’. far from that, this is something that i have always always always wanted. something that the husband and i feel we know it’s right. i ctrl-alt-dlt myself so that i may focus on our marriage, our kids (insya allah), and time for ukhrawi. i will still continue working, just not as fast furious as it has been all these while.

past few nights. a flurry of emotions. with each passing day, we take a step closer towards death. i know, i sound fatalistic here. but how prepared am i, as i move on to the next rite of passage?

childhood. teenage. graduation. work. marriage.
checked. checked. checked. checked checked.

kids. old age. death.
we are left with three stations, and death is not an option.

and umrah and haj in between, insya allah.

how much time do i have? how much time do we have? am i ready to lose him? will i ever be ready for my own death?

Time does not wait.

anyways, speaking of ‘time’ and ‘wait’, the husband will be going to UK somewhere april/may for 3 months. Work related.

am praying hard i get to join him there in june

in the mean time, enjoy some pics from our final fitting last thursday

The simple deco for nikah :)

And oh, our simple deco for the nikah. Venue for guests to makan-makan and mingle

The white paper lanterns & blue ribbons belong to my family. Recycled from my sister’s wedding two years ago. Still pretty!

and one more. the akad nikah
(am still cringing who put the white cushion on top of the tuquoise/teal large cushion di pelamin nikah. heh)

married :)

Alhamdulillah. We are married.

A very intimate affair for immediate family & close friends

it was everything we wanted it to be. alhamdulillah

Pictures

ps: this post is full of peektures tau… you’ve been warned! heh.

first, the DIYs

the diy hantarans for the groom. i buat sendiri (except for cakes and pastries) + my bridesmaids dolled up the fruits basket the night before

the diy pelamin nikah

second, the make up (kak juls from julsdsweet is such a darling. she’s awesome!) and the akad nikah

third. family, bridesmaids, friends, photobooth.

fourth, the wedding desserts bar by ola lola oh, the rave!

next, post-nikah outdoor photography with Little Fairies at Kampung Lorong Buangkok

and…. casual outdoor lifestyle phoography with farhat photography on sunday, 19 feb

one of our props that we did last minute (half an hour before we left for the shoot!)

us in blue and white. i did my own make up. 0730 am. yes, on a sunday. wanted the morning sun. we were tersangatlah excited, pagi yang hujan pun tetap kita bangun dan siap. hehe.

wait for more in march. the wedding reception

xoxo
the mrs

emotions

the akad nikah fast approaching. 4 days!

i finally applied for UPA tadi. will be on leave this friday. VP approved on the spot. glee! cos i need one day off. one day not thinking about work at all. one day i get to skip the long smc meeting. one day on a weekday.

this saturday, inai party with my girlfriends. i wanna bake cake and cook aglio olio (+ prawns) for them

bunga for pelamin nikah will come today. bridal room will be set up tomorow.

am having butterflies in my tummy. rasa cuak pun ada.

lets pray that semuanya berjalan lancar.

bismillah.

Accomplished

The mr and spent the day together lagi seminggu, masih lagi jumpa. Sungguh tak ada pantang. Hurhur.

Up and awake very early. We both made our new ICs. Finally, dah re-register. Yeay! At least bila show IC to kadi nanti, tak lah malu dengan muka 12 tahun kita tuuuu *grins*

Off to geylang and i dah got my tudung nikah, the inner for tudung nikah, collect my baju for hantaran from manja (lawaaaaa!!!!!)

Went to bike shop. Insurance for his bike.

and the highlight

We did the pelamin nikah
Our DIY

It’s not fully completed. About 50% done. Cos belum letak bunga, pasang cushion covers for the seats & other smaller bantals. But it’s almost there

The backdrop

Front view

Side view

7 days!!!

casual outdoor photography with Little Fairies by Nasheda

the mr and i went for our first photo session last sunday. An evening date with Little Fairies by Nasheda. Do check out the Little Fairies page in Facebook.

Raffles Place on a sunday

Nevermind that it rained that day. In fact, i love it! Perhaps we could get good pics with rainbows, was the first thing that crossed my mind. However, tak dapat rainbows…. tapi dapat many shots of water reflections and splashes of water when we jumped. When else could we get such awesome pics if not on a rainy day

The grey skies might appear gloomy but, fret not. It worked perfectly well for us cos we both wore white (+khaki pants for him). When we were specifically instructed by the photographer to “wear white, khaki pants, no prints”, little did we know the reason why. They look effortlessly timeless

And the hot pink heels made their debut!

The pictures turn out amazing much thanks to our dear friend for the truly unexpected wedding gift. We love everything about it.

The entire photography session was fantastic. Everyone was in good spirits, smiles & laughters all around although the shoot overshot by 2 hrs. We were supposed to end at 7 pm… tapi akhirnya selesai at 9 pm. Even till the very last pic, semua masih lagi senyum, ketawa, berbual walaupun dah penat, kaki dah lenguh

ps: i did my own make up. It was a quick-quick rush-rush job cos i only had abt half an hour between my class that ended at 330 pm and the photo session that started at 5 pm. Nasib baik muka tak jadi macam joker *LOL*

i used MAC primer. Awesome, i say. It stayed throughout the photoshoot. Despite the rain, jumps, sweat, oil. It stayed

Sneak peek!!

The MAC face primer, eyeshadow primer, lipstick & lip gloss.

Other make up that i used not in this pic, chanel foundation, estée lauder concealer & blusher, doll me up eyeshadows, and some off-the-counter mascara, eyeliner & eyebrows powder. No time to put on the fake eyelashes, tho. Tapi tak pe

On our way to raffles place. Us in a cab. I main-main experiment with the tudung style. Nasib baik menjadi *phew* god knows berapa banyak pins i used to make sure that tudung stays in place throughout. And it did! After so many jump shots this and that, the tudung stayed good throughout

Plus: i bought the lace tudung at the last minute – day before photoshoot baru sempat beli tudung, cardigan to be worn over the sleeveless empire cut dress, his shirt, his pants. Nasib baik sempat!

I still have a lot to learn in the ‘draw eyebrows’ department, as you can see. But nevermind, janji tak macam wayang pekji, tak pe. Hehehehe.

And these are the ones by Little Fairies!

Last night

The bride & her bridesmaids

Our cosy get-together dinner at badoque

I thank Allah for having these ladies in my life.

Acknowledging the Bree in me

The mr and i went shopping at orchard yesterday. The post xmas sales were gleefying.

He bought me a ring which i love much cos we pilih together

We are still looking for a ring & watch for him.

He was amused when i told him my shopping list at robinsons:

1. Cadar katil

Yes, tu aje.

But… He almost fainted when i bought 3 bags of just cadar katil aje *grins*

Oh, i super looove robinsons sale! Hallmark egyptian cotton sateen fitted + quilt cover bedsheet set bundle selling at 60% discount!

I ended up buying 2 of that, 1 hallmark king size quilt cover, 1 jean perry fitted bedset & 1 king koil pillows+mattress protecter set. Major savings!

However, as we ‘speak’, i’m on my way to robinsons to return the king size quilt cover cos i just realised it’s too big for the bed. Thank god for refund policy

And i got myself a spanx at tangs orchard how am i going to fit init… Well, good luck to me! Hurhur.

I know that i can get it at a cheaper price online but i’m the sort who prefers to see + touch the product before buying. Very tactile.

case of the halved wardrobe

today, i made my first step. i have cleared about 20% of my clothes. to either be given away, thrown away or ripped apart.

i did it. within 30 minutes. nary a hint of reminiscence *yeay me!*

slowly clearing away my stuff to make way for the mr when he moves in. am giving myself two or three months to do this.

nak give away/buang baju pun ada priority list tau. hehe.

1. clothes that ada even the slightest bit of kenangan with the previous fella. few years ago, i have already thrown away the clothes that the previous fella bought for me and the ones that the fella pilihkan. tapi ada satu dua tu yang ‘branded’, kalau nak dibuang memanglah rasa sayang sangat cos i paid for the baju sendiri. memanglah tak ada rasa apa-apa pun when i wear the clothes tu. tapi memandangkan i truly wish to start a brand new life with the mr whom i’m about to marry in (count) 96 days, maka baju-baju tu terpaksalah O-U-T. he didnt request for it. in fact, i know he wouldnt even mind. but this is my own personal choice. cos, face the fact, i do have to give/throw away my clothes and i do need a system to smoothen this process, somehow. this priority #1 is valid enough a reason.

2. clothes yang dah koyak and in bad shape. i dont have to explain this one, do i?

3. work clothes that i dont wear anymore. (for the sole purpose: buy pretty new clothes for work!)

more things to throw away next couple of weeks

Pictures

the mr surprised me on friday night we were whatsapping each other. all the while i thought he was on his way home or something. little did i know he was actually under my block! macam scenario romeo and juliet gitu when i ran to my window and saw him downstairs waving at me *giggles*

i brought down some food (rice + some lauk) and we had our dinner di kolong blokku. romantik tak? romantik tak?? hurhur.

and then, the highlight of the night, he whipped out the three instant win stubs from McD! the ones that we have been collecting together for the past month. since the next day would be the last day we could redeem the free instant wins, he thought it would be nice if we could eat ‘em sama-sama.

the night was cool and breezy. definitely the perfect reason to walk to McD and back home + great conversation + the mr. bliss

and the next day, mum, sisters and i went over to Manja to send our fabrics. All baju yang kena-mengena dengan wedding. checked! almost, cos i belum hantar the mr’s baju nikah to be tailored. this week, perhaps, since he’ll be on leave this entire week.

and to teachers out there, here’s a picture for us

deco

mum, sis and i went to meet our sanding deco last night. a very pleasant one almost all the major vendors for our nikah and sanding are my mum’s friends, hence not much hassle in terms of discussion.

since it’ll be the final wedding for the family (two out of four of us sisters are already married), my youngest sis and i let my mum decide the theme and stuff that she wants for our wedding. to make mummy happy we let mum choose the deco that she likes most (it is the nicest deco, by the way. and we trust our mum’s good taste). we let mum have her dream wedding *huhu* cos we know mum will always want the best for us… and we believe, insya allah, the wedding will turn out great. semoga dengan restu ibu bapa, sempurna jadinya. insya allah. saves us the drama of ‘satu nak macam gini, satu lagi nak macam gitu’. hehehe.

like what i’ve said earlier, this wedding is a celebration of us; the family. our family.

one hint for the deco: LACE! *glee*

thank you for reminding me. we’ll stick with our plan.

his whatsapp was a simple line.

“we want a simple wedding right?”

how powerful those words are. a reminder to us to keep things simple. the wedding is about us. not us ‘us’ just me and him kinda ‘us’. but us; a meaningful celebration with the ones who matter. our families and close friends. that us.

it will not be a grand affair macam di hotel or some awesome place such as acm, fort canning, country club etc. places that you and i, the common people, can only dream of. good to have but not ‘the ultimate one’ that will make or break our wedding. our wedding.

with that in mind, we have agreed that the barang hantaran shouldnt be high in our expenditure list. we’ll be sticking to the simple things such as sejadah, telekung, baju sepasang, cakes, chocs, biscuits and fruits. once guests head home, they wouldnt even remember what were on the dulangs. gucci, prada, LV. miu miu, omega, exquisite branded chocs, the latest gadget. none of that.

i shouldnt sweat on the small stuff. there will be no comparison between cheap vs expensive. no comparison between lain daripada yang lain vs simple wedding. stay calm. stay cool. at the end of the day, only one thing matters – “aku terima nikahnya….”

we are getting married because of love, because we care for each other, because we hope to grow old together. because of God.

looks, money and pangkat are merely worldly matters. we dont wish to start something good with a grand display of opulence. biarlah sederhana… janji, makanannya sedap dan cukup, tetamu rasa selesa dan dapat mendoakan kebahagiaan kami. keberkahanNya yang lebih penting. amin.

which, something that may or may not be related, my opinion on the choice of clothes for the bride. true, as pretty as she will be on that day, a part of me feel sad when i see pics of new brides in gowns that reveal way too much.

yes, one group will claim “but it’s OUR big day. we wear what we want cos that is us”.

but i, on the other hand, belong to the other side. i am the conservative bride, i admit. choice of clothes speaks volumes. much can be derived. nama baik keluarga, nama baik keluarga mertua, the kinda man one’s husband is or will be. menghormati tetamu-tetamu lain. it’s a marriage of two families. it’s a celebration not simply semata kerana adat, tetapi lebih besar lagi, agama. dress up, down (or lack of) for all you want on other days or for your own personal wedding outdoor shot. just not at the majlis. my own personal honest opinion.

plan for this weekend: buy kain for the baju nikah.

plans for november: send kain to Manja, paint the room, complete the bantal hantaran for the dulangs, appt with decorama, collect curtain from jb, meet kelvin from may june interior.

ps: for those wondering.. Manja is this fab kedai baju at joo chiat complex. 3rd floor. excellent workmanship.

little things done

little things have been done. the mum, sisters and i went shopping last saturday. we all agreed with pink for the sanding *yeay* instead of the common lace, we bought thai silk and songket. will be making baju kurung pahang and have them tailored at the usual place; manja. knowing them so well, kedai fabrik bobby immediately recommended us the materials that manja prefers to make baju kurung pahang. saves us a lot of trouble

instead of all the same tone, we decided it would be pretty to have the sisters and mum wearing different shades of pink. very very subtle difference though. pretty pretty. even the two brides to be bought a set each, plus for the tunangs too. so next year, the entire family will be wearing sedondon. hehehe.

and more kains for the other family members and the men at ali baba. i suppose the pics in the previous post have done all the talking. huhu.

mummy belanja *hugs* love you, mum!

Wordless Saturday