Life's Simple Delights

后。青春期的诗 -- 如烟

2008-11-07T12:55:00.005+08:00

如烟
词曲：五月天阿信/石头
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有没有那么一种永远　永远不改变　
拥抱过的美丽都　再也不破碎
让险峻岁月不能在脸上撒野　
让生离和死别都遥远　有谁能听见
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有没有那么一滴眼泪　能洗掉后悔　
化成大雨降落在　回不去的街
再给我一次机会　将故事改写　
还欠了他一生的　一句抱歉
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有没有那么一个世界　永远不天黑　
星星太阳万物都　听我的指挥
月亮不忙著圆缺　春天不走远　
树梢紧紧拥抱著树叶　有谁能听见
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有没有那么一朵玫瑰　永远不凋谢　
永远骄傲和完美　永远不妥协
为何人生最后会像一张纸屑　
还不如一片花瓣曾经鲜艳
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有没有那么一张书签　停止那一天　
最单纯的笑脸和　最美那一年
书包里面装满了蛋糕和汽水　
双眼只有无猜和无邪　让我们无法无天
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有没有那么一首诗篇　找不到句点　
青春永远定居在　我们的岁月
男孩和女孩都有吉他和舞鞋　
笑忘人间的苦痛　只有甜美
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有没有那么一个明天　重头活一遍　
让我再次感受曾挥霍的昨天
无论生存或生活　我都不浪费　
不让故事这么的后悔

有谁能听见　我不要告别

听着五月天的作品七号--《后。青春期的诗》，几度忍不住落泪。阿信这次写词真的很用心，每一首都深深刺入心里，一遍又一遍的听，越听越有感觉。听到《如烟》，彻底震撼，彻底泪奔。终于明白为什么给这张专辑取了个如此文艺的名字，当时我还觉得矫情来着，阿信分明就是写了十二首诗啊。《如烟》，副歌部分歌词摘录如上，仅仅副歌就如此强悍，不知演唱会上阿信同学要如何应对@_@...
~extracted from a fellow taiwan mayday fan's blog.

"听到《如烟》，彻底震撼，彻底泪奔" -Exactly how i felt, 震撼。

Yet another brilliant piece of lyrics from Ah Shin.

最华丽的青春悄悄流逝，后青春期的阿信用更加成熟的眼光回望走过的路，那种打动人心的纯真、遗憾和执着无法遏止地冲击着我的泪腺，一发不可收拾……

Last year of being twenty-plus

2008-08-27T12:25:00.003+08:00

I had 3 cakes yesterday! Broke record man. Thank you all lovelies for remembering my b-day and all the well wishes! Too many smses and also many that i duno who is the sender. Only know that they're from my students. So pardon me for not replying you one by one!

Special thanks for Ah lan and gang + netball gals for the chocolate cake we had 'secretly' at the D&T block. (why so shy? hee.) Then for the delicious brownie cake specially made by Annie (Yes, Mrs Tan Annie) with fellow teachers in the staffroom. Had another cake with my 1 year old cute baby niece at night. We share the same birthday day!

Made me feel so blessed. Life's simple pleasures are made out of these. =)

No pics for now... Waiting for someone to send me! *get the hint?*

Will be back in sch on friday for teachers' day celebration! See u then!

Transformation

2008-08-18T16:46:00.001+08:00

Before:

After:

CHIO-NESS!! No more ugly thick blindings!! *Yippies*

After all the agony i went through , i managed to find this wonderful carpet company to help me cover up this unsightly looking thingy. Very pleased with their prompt service and helpfulness. Best of all, their prices were really competitive! They do curtains too and so we'll be getting them to do up our curtains as well. I would highly recommend them to anyone who needs carpet, curtain or wallpaper installation:

Carpet Image Pte Ltd
Contact person: Renee 97464110

A Summary

2008-08-08T00:17:00.014+08:00

Okie, i know you are waiting for me to blog about my farewell last week. I know you are waiting for your test papers. And I know you are hoping to get invited.

Last week of school. Lots of tears and laughters. My students are a real cute bunch. Thank you for all the surprises and well wishes! I will miss ya. =) Three years of rubbish accumulated. Now do i know the importance of spring cleaning! Spent like 2 days to pack and its still not enough. No choice, so i left some stuffs around to be cleared after i came back from my bangkok trip.

YES.
I went bangkok 2 days after my last day of school. Lots of tom yum, grilled squids, grilled sausages, crepe (at Platinum Mall Food Court), and my favourite... Thai orange juice! Supposed to be a get-away trip cum shopping-for-home-decor trip. Great relaxing trip! Bought some cheap vases and decor pieces, and bath towels (hotel style) for 50 cents per piece!!! And i saw soooooo many designer replica pieces on sale... but its too big for us to bring back!! *sadness* Sorry but i was too busy shopping and eating, so, no photos!

Photo-viewing at D'sire yesterday. Am pleased with the photos! Especially the outdoor shots with the artistic trees. Sucessfully filtered through the 200++ photos to a pile of 30 photos without much difficulties. We had decided we just need to include the essence that will fill one album. One great looking album and thats enough. Let me show you some of my favorite shots. Pardon for bad resolution though!

Reno nightmares

2008-07-21T00:25:00.009+08:00

Will you want such a contractor to do up your house??

1. My 'glorious' warped wardrobe doors!

2. Patchy cement screed floor

3. Cracked laminate on TV Console

4. Patchy touch-up paint job (see how stupid it look?)

5. Scratched wall (never take care when installing things)

6. Sloppy pastering job around edge of all my windows
(never even bother to clean them up!)

7. Plasterings that are ALREADY starting to peel!
(hey! i havn't even move in!)

After so many rounds of retification, still so many problems!! *headache*

Setting my priorities

2008-07-20T23:19:00.003+08:00

Everyone is starting to ask us about how our wedding preparations are going. Then they'll continue on with all the nitty gritty stuffs that you need to do for your wedding. Makes you all stressed up coz they just throw everything at one go into your face. There are always priorities right? Not everything is so urgent at this point of time! >.<

Photoshoot was nice. =)

I remembered the one big reason which got me to sign up with D'sire was the 'wow' factor its interior decor gave me the first time i stepped into the place. And indeed, the photoshoot has proven to me that i didn't make a wrong choice! Every single corner of their 3 storey shophouse (including its little roof garden and balcony behind their pantry area) is a potential backdrop for photo-taking. Within the 4 hours of indoor shooting, i had a change of 4 indoor gowns, with decors and props in different themes as backdrops. I already felt that i had so much variety in my photos without even stepping outside for my outdoor photoshoot.

The only thing - it rained! In the end we didn't go to Changi. Despite that, it was a cooling day which might not be that bad either. =) I won't want to know how it would have felt like to be in that thick wedding gown and makeup under the hot sun! Anyway we still managed to take some decent shoots outdoor in the end. Can't wait to see them!!!!

Now, back to doing up my guestlist! Who wants to be invited? ;)

Happy Shopping Day!

2008-07-13T01:15:00.006+08:00

Been really busy with school recently... with all the big events and oral invigilations. As a result i've been squeezing out time to do up my invitation designs at night and missing out sleep time. -.- * i need more beauty sleep!* Both church and banquet invitation inserts designs are done! Am proud of my own creation. First baby step for my future online wedding invitation design business. You won't be able to imagine how i had typed out the chinese wordings on the chinese insert one by one! I had to dig out my dictionary to find the han yu pin yin of the words so that i can input them into my document! *My dear students out there, its not coz my chinese is too poor ok. Its coz they use really formal words that normal people don't use in daily life!*

Went down to the card company to confirm my orders for the cards as well. Chose a simple blank design so that i can customise it to the way i want it to be. I don't want any typical 喜喜 or hot stamped golden wordings on my cards.

Awaiting for transformation!

Card when opened. *insert design mosiac-ed to keep it as a surprise for u!*

Photoshoot in 3 days time! I combed the whole of far east plaza today looking for shoes and accessories to match my gowns for the shoot. Dead tired now. *not a complain though. I was enjoying my shopping with all the sales going on!* Am happy! Coz i think i found the perfect pair of shoes. And far east is really the place to go for cheap and nice accessories. Found my earrings at $4.90 per pair! And they're nice enough to go with gowns ok.

We've sort of decided to go changi for our outdoor PS. Changi boardwalk -> lallang field -> Changi beach -> Changi Chapel -> Terminal 3. Hoping to get permission to take photos at SAF changi yacht club too. Chance upon these really gorgeous photos online. Can you believe that this is actually Singapore???

See more @ http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/changi

Too much work, too little time!!

2008-06-26T21:17:00.004+08:00

I think i complained too much for the past week. Haha. But the actual fact is i DO love my house. Just need to get the few pending items rectified - my cement screed kitchen floor, kitchen cabinet doors, wardrobe sliding doors and my platform bed!

Acrtually I already can visualise how it will look after all the furnitures and decors are in! *wohoo*

Pendant light in balcony. am getting a red modern lounge chair to match it!

Drop lights at dining area.

A click on the switch and you can have it in blue LED lights!
*kind of ah beng actually*

Matches perfectly with the glass panel at the foyer and my glass dining table! *table arriving tmr!*

Full length mirror installed in MBR toilet! See my BIGGG toilet now!!

Photoshoot in 2 weeks time. After much frustration and trouble dealing with the inhuman boss, i managed to get my leave approved. Now I need to get down and decide where to go for the outdoor shoot!

The Wish List

2008-06-24T00:10:00.005+08:00

Arco Floor Lamp
Suits the living room nicely coz we don't have any centre lighting point for our living area.

Ball Chair by Eero Aarnio. I'll be sooo happy if i can have this for my balcony. But i doubt so for its price tag...

MAGIS Voido Rocking Chair

Bourgie Table Lamp by Kartell
I want this at my bed side!!

Read in the magazine that this 'PaperFold' chair (the one in yellow) is a prototype designed by the owner, i wonder whether its on sale anywhere? A red one will be great for our balcony too...

Inferior stuffs

2008-06-20T03:07:00.009+08:00

Forgot to mention one more thing that i found today.

My partition-board-lookalike wardrobe doors.... are warped! And all 3 pieces are warped!! the only reason i can think of is that my contractor is giving us inferior materials. Now i'm suspecting the many other items in my house might also be inferior! *urgh* I'm gonna make sure he tears them down and give me new ones.

Talking about this reminds me of my ventilation fan in the toilet.

We had asked contractor to help us contact KDK fan for the installation of their ventilation fan with Perspex. KDK has came up with a standard and sleek way of mounting their fans that looks like what is shown below, and i know that it costs ard $500+ to do it. That's also the price that he quoted us for this installation.

The other day when we saw our ventilation fan in our toilet, i was surprise to see that it looks kind of different. With closer examination of it, we came up with the conclusion that its not done by KDK. My contractor has got his workers to do it using a cheapo way so that he can earn the money for himself. Actually i do not have any issue about that. As long as the end product looks decent (it does look alright from the inside, but not from the outside of my house, which doesn't bother me), i'm fine with him doing it himself. But.... $500+ will not be the price i'll pay for it! When i agree on the $500+, i'm expecting the kind of workmanship i see at KDK. And he thought his work can pass off with the same price tag?? Fat Hope!

Another point that we're going to use to bargain with him at the end of the reno!

More issues!

2008-06-19T17:20:00.016+08:00

Just when i was feeling super happy about the pretty lights i managed to find for my dining and balcony area on monday... Today came another issue!!

I concluded that my contractor has got no aesthetic sense! I should have knew it when he suggested tat obiang curved platform design the previous time! We're starting to feel that we've made a wrong choice in choosing him.

#1: Saw our platform bed in the MBR. Another disappointment. *Nightmare*

Anyone seen platforms with such thick and ugly blindings before? NEVER! (at least for me.) I never imagine anyone could do up such an ugly platform. Somemore blindings and the laminate colors not matching one! *faint* This is an F9 on my scoreboard. They are gonna do something abt it. I'm NOT going to accept it. Worst come to worst i'll ask them to do a carpet over the whole thing.

#2:

My glass display shelve in the MBR. Isn't it common sense to make the base white? Have u seen a shelve that has the base of a difference color compared to the rest of it? *shakes head*

#3:

View of my MBR. Actually, there' nothing too wrong with anything, but i thought that the handle of the frosted glass door is kind of obiang. Bad taste! I had expected more modern looking ones. And i seriously think they did it to save cost.

The good things:

1) The polished marble floor is looking good. Shiny shine!

my favourite part of the whole house for the time being. My toilets!!

2) Common toilet: pipe color rectified! And I REALLY love the black ceiling.

3) MBR toilet. Everything up except mirror.
See my pretty black glass bowl and granite vanity top!

These pics don't do justice to my lovely toilets. They look much nicer in real life. the only problem with them is they're so cramped that i can't really take much decent pics of them!

4) New bedroom doors! Modern and nice!

5) Glass panel at foyer up! Nice!

6) Sliding glass door in kitchen. i like glass-y stuffs~

We're back!!

2008-06-14T23:15:00.004+08:00

We were back on friday night! Had a good spiritual retreat and break at Port Dickson. Laksa and Chendol was superb at Melaka! Can't really wait to see the updates in our house so we went down immediately the next morning.

Glossy black kitchen cabinets:
Looks sleek and nice from the photos. but in actual fact, the workmanship was far from good. Dear has a major issue with the laminates as they look wavy and ripple-ish from far when light shines on them. Can also see 'dimples' here and there which i seriously think its due to their poor workmanship. Contractor keep trying to tell us that that's the original condition of the laminate. *liar* I can accept the slight wavy-ness to be the way the laminate is, but definately not the 'dimples'. Comparatively to that, my hood seem to be a small issue now.

Ledge for extra table space as well as to hide the washing machine underneath

Shoe cabinet. Also in gloss. Same wavy ripple-ish problem! *urgh*

MBR wardrobe sliding doors. Also in gloss! Same problem!! *faints* And the worst thing is they looked like some huge boring-looking partition board! Made me very unhappy! The big pieces of laminate here make the faults even more obvious compared to the shoe cabinet and kitchen cabinet doors.

I was so unhappy with it that i kept scrutinizing it. and see what i found:

A chip on the laminate! Confirmed bad workmanship! On top of that there were also dimples, scratches and stains on them. REJECT!!!!

These glossy laminates became the BIG major issue for us now, as we really can't stand the low-quality look of it. The dear even contemplate on changing the whole batch of them to a much better and expensive laminate so as to get rid of the ripples. As for me, i'm trying hard to think of ways to jazz up that dumb partition-board-lookalike wardrobe doors. The bedhead was disappointing too. the fabric we chose was too brown! i wanted something more greyish/black as tat's the color theme i want in my MBR. i don't like brown!!

Comparing color of bedhead to my grey wall.

.
.
.
.
.
*sigh.....*

Okie... on to the more positive areas.

Lights up! Makes significant difference to the whole feel of the house!

Dining area. Havn't buy our drop-down light yet!

Living area. warm and cozy!

Wall colors looking good!

MBR L-box. Pretty!

So few positive things! Not enough to relieve us from the problems! =(

Renovation is so stressful!

2008-06-09T01:24:00.007+08:00

Just had the most stressful weekend since the start of my reno. Issues are starting to pop up. Next week will be the major week as 90% of my reno will be done by then. The BEST thing is that... we'll be out of town. The bad part is tat we won't be there to monitor the work, but the good part is that we get a break away from it. (which i seriously need! I've been having dreams of my house and reno for a few nights in a row coz that's basically the thing thats on my mind all day. especially with some of the existing screw-ups that you're going to read below.)

Based on that and my contractor's working ( bad) habits, we were cracking our heads to think of things we need to ask and verify with him before we're gone, so tat he follows exactly what we want him to do. I really hope i won't get a shock when i return the following week.

Unfinished kitchen cabinets:

Major screw-up:
Because of the rush of buying our hood and hob (as mentioned in previous post), didn't realise we got a hood that's more bulky than other normal hoods. *CRY x 1000* It's like 1 inch thicker than other hoods and also sticks out of the cabinet more! Made me SUPER SAD!!! #_# There goes my sleek looking kitchen! With a clumsy-looking bulky hood!! And i'm gonna put the blame on my contractor. All his fault!

Foyer box-up for glass panel:

Wrong laminates chosen. We op for a particular matt white laminate for the side of this panel so as to blend it into rest of the wall. But we realise that the white we chose was slightly grey and doesn't look good. *SAD* Might have to change the whole thing to gloss white laminate.

MBR wardrobe setup.

Looking good... reason being i'm the one that sort of 'designed' it. He basically just follow my drawing, which i recon that's actually the only way to avoid any screw-ups.

My drawing (edited using reference from closet design):

TV console: also designed by me. After warnings from the dear, i didn't dare to do a more complicated one coz i forsee they're going to ruin the whole thing!

False ceilings all done up. Can't wait for lights to be installed!
Dining area:

Living area:

MBR:

Tat's all for the house before we go on our short break. I'll be praying hard for nothing to go wrong!

False ceilings, washing machine and fridge

2008-06-07T00:31:00.002+08:00

False ceilings up!

Went to Audio House to get our washing machine and refridgerator. Got this Slim LG front-load WM at $499 and Samsung fridge at $1049. Our house is filled with Korean-branded appliances!!

Our trip to audio house left us with more complains about my contractor! When we were there, we realised that their hoods and hobs were nicer and cheaper than those we bought! Contractor kept bugging us about the hood and the hob (3 times in one single day). In the end we were sort of being rushed into buying them quickly and didn't have the time to slowly shop ard to compare prices.

I forsee even more to come! *cry*

I hate rushing

2008-06-05T23:11:00.000+08:00

Another problem with my contractor: he never gives u prior notice in doing things and does things his own way without consulting you, unless u ask him about it. Because of him, we had to rush to buy our toilet accessories and aircon very last min. This is getting more and more stressful...

Photo updates:

Pleasant surprise to see that the toilet fittings were installed! fast! We thought that the basin and tap looks really simple and cute, just the way we want it.

WC in MBR toilet. Contractor helped us to conseal the hot and cold water piping in this toilet. No exposed water pipes here! *jumps!*

Unfinished shoe cabinet. th wall was hacked off previously to give room for the cabinet. The back will be covered with laminate that matches the kitchen wall color.

Kitchen cement screeds done. Somehow we like the way the walls look in this grey-ish tone. So we decided that we will have them painted grey instead of white!

Structure of platforms up!
Balcony:

MBR:

Lighting points done. next up would be the false ceilings!

never believe in contractors

2008-06-01T23:31:00.003+08:00

our first issue with the contractor came.

couple of weeks ago, we went window shopping for toilet fittings and found some really good bargains which includes a stylish WC + basin promo that goes for $288, and cheap WC going for $138. In fear that these promotional items would go out-of-stock soon, we decide to get the contractor to go down with us to grab them. (we want the contractor to be there so tat he can advice on items suitable for the spaces we have.)

During this day when i brought him to the shop and after looking at the stuffs, he told me that the price is not exactly very cheap actually. He also claimed that he can get WCs at ard just $100+. At the end of the day, we did not buy anything, partly also because he said its still early to buy them.

A week later when its almost time for workers to install the fittings, he got us some product list from some shop he usually works with, for us to choose. The problem is that the products on the list were really limited in choice and totally not cheap! That's still not an issue. The main issue came when we arranged for another day to go shopping for lightings and toilet fittings together. The shop that he brought us to sells things with price tags which totally doesn't match what he claimed to be earlier. His explaination was that he doesn't wan to introduce us to cheap but inferior stuffs, and tell us that we shouldn't go for cheaper stuffs as there will be quality issues. Anyway, we went in and out of the shop he brought us to with no purchase made. In the end, we insist on bringing him back to the shops that we found our cheaper items and bought our stuffs there. That's like a total waste of time!! We could have bought our stuffs during the first visit! Our assumption is that he made up stories as he wants us to buy from shops that he brought us to, most probably to get some commission or help him build up his relationship with his suppliers.

The moral of the story: Don't do whatever your contractor tells u to! We have came to the conclusion that less than half of what he said can be trusted. Go and shop and compare prices for your stuffs on your own.

He also brought us to a lighting shop to buy our lights. Thats the only place we bought something but we have a feeling that we could have gotten them cheaper somewhere else.

Purchase includes:
- 8 x 4 feet long T5 with casing
- 1 x 2 feet long T5 with casing
- 1 x 3-blade ceiling fan
- 2 x toilet light
- 1 x storeroom light
- 4 x glass panel ceiling light (for 2 bedrooms and kitchen)
- 6 x large downlights (for living and corridor)
- 2 x medium downlights (for MBR)
- 1 x spotlight (for glass shelve in MBR)

Total damage: $1200

I still need to source for my balcony and dining light. Didn't see anything that i fancy in that shop. These are the 2 lights that will need to be more attention grabbing.

Total damage for toilet fittings: $1098

Pending items:
- shower head and bar for MBR toilet
- towel bars, toilet row holders, glass shelves for both toilets
- kitchen sink and tap
- hood and hob

Shopping can be such a chore at times!!

my NEW old house

2008-05-26T00:24:00.000+08:00

Updates! My toilet tiles are up and i'm loving it!

common toilet: simple black and white combination. I simply love the super glossy and clean effect. Ceiling will be painted black. I can't wait to see!!

MBR toilet: the mosiac and textured tiles we chose proved
to be a good combination. High-class looking!

Plastering done! Oh man... how i love the sharp corners. so much more pleasant to look at as compared to the old roundish ones. And its amazing how a simple plastering job can make such a huge difference to the whole house. Now the house looks NEW! Definately worth the money spent.

view from my balcony!

btw this is where the leak is in my common toilet ceiling.
algae growing already!!

The problems with old house

2008-05-21T01:58:00.000+08:00

more addition to house. contractor suggest us to re-plaster and re-wire the whole house as the walls are super un-smooth and the wirings are very old already. tat's the problem when u buy a 20++ yrs old flat. #_# Re-plaster is like $2.4k, re-wiring another $1.7k! After consideration, we concluded that these addition will make quite a significant difference to the look of the whole house and so proceed with doing them.

Let me tell u more problems with getting old flats like mine.

1. my flat does not have gas supply so we have to use cylinder gas. we're contemplating on an induction hob coz of that.

2. the kitchen does not have a separate water outlet for ur washing machine like newer flats. And coz of this, we gotta change our whole initial layout of the kitchen cabinet and we cannot have a separate laundry area. *sad*

3. the ceiling in my common toilet leaks! and i needa get my neighbour above to redo his waterproofing and i needa pay half of the cost for him. *urgh*

4. old hdb toilets are super small and the 'hole' for the toilet bowl is slightly further away from the wall compared to newer flats. So not all toilet bowls can fit in there without leaving a gap between the back of the toilet bowl and the wall. and the position of their toilet bowl 'hole' is real werid. It left us with so little space for the shower area that i gotta do away with the kerb for shower area in my common toilet. So i have no choice but to have a 'wet' common toilet.

There might be more but tats about all i can recall for now.

Saw this at park mall sometime ago. This is what we wants in our MBR. We're gonna have a platform bed. =) Just hope that it'll turn out to be as nice...

Start of the great transformation

2008-05-20T23:57:00.000+08:00

hacking works started. gone are the mosiacs, roundish corners, dirty kitchen and toilets!

the foyer look so much brighter and opened now.

toilets hacked! build-in wardrobes teared down!

balcony door down, tiles hacked!

bags of sand = my $$
sand very expensive nowadays u know!

Finalised our lighting points too. Every point is $$. At first the contractor suggested like near to 10 points in the living and dining just for downlights. In the end we brought it down to the following:

- 4 downlights, 2 T5 and 1 fan point for living
- 4 T5 and 1 centre light for dining
- 2 downlights for corridor
- 2 downlight for MBR L-box
- 1 downlight for foyer.
- 1 centre light for balcony
- 2 centre light for kitchen
- 1 centre light for each bedroom
- 1 centre light for each toilet

$$$$$$$$$!!! still need to buy lights and toilet fittings!

Preparations for Reno

2008-04-23T01:13:00.000+08:00

Quotation for reno is more or less settled. The sum of money gonna be dumped in is really no joke. Our first quote with an ID firm came up to near 40K. @_@ In the end we settled for a contractor firm with a finalised quote tat's near 28K. But somehow we kind of wonder how the quote still came up to such a sum. To save cost, we already did away with a tv feature wall, went for cement screed walls and floor instead of tiles in the kitchen, chose stainless steel backsplash instead of glass for the kitchen. Duh. -.-

Plan of my 121 sqm 5-rm flat:

Think BIG!!

2008-03-09T00:24:00.000+08:00

Grabbed a real good buy at the IT show today!!

42'' Panasonic Plasma TV + $500 NTUC voucher + $300 Takashimaya voucher + extended 5 years warrenty @ $1999!

I was actually quite overwhelmed by the whole atmosphere at the IT show as i don't even have time to slowly consider without having the promotion item all grabbed up by others. We didn't even realise that it's a Plasma tv instead of a LCD until we were writing down our details for the buy. I almost backoff at that moment when i realise the difference as I always had the thought that LCD is better than plasma from what i heard from others. In the end we carried on with the purchase, but not without me going back and doing my research on plasma TVs. Was kind of relieved and glad to know that it's not a wrong decision made after i found out that plasma is a better choice for anything bigger than 40". Another great buy! My darling and I make a wonderful team in sourcing for value-for-money items. =)

1st milestone

2008-03-04T10:22:00.010+08:00

WE ARE GETTING OUR KEYS TODAY!! *jumps*

Which also marks the day for a big load of money disappearing from the bank account for the first time! *crys*

Anyway, we went down to the place to do a final inspection before the official handing over of the keys, at the same time to decide on the things we needa include in our reno.

must-hack #1: foyer with obiang mosiac tiles and round corners

must-hack #2: kitchen, old and dirty cabinets

panda sliding door! real CLASSIC man.

must-hack #3: common toilet, dirty and algae everywhere... #_#

bad condition ceiling

MBR toilet: err... i guess the photo is obvious
enough to tells u that it's another must-hack!

roundish corners again! >.<

similar mosiac tiles at kitchen entrance... hack hack hack!

Time to find a contractor!!

One step closer

2008-01-22T08:15:00.000+08:00

1st appointment with HDB! We're one step closer to getting our house!

Dates-to-remember

2008-01-10T23:32:00.001+08:00

Dates with D'sire Bridal:

1st appointment - 29/02/08, 6:30pm
1st fitting - 30/04/08, 6:30pm
final fitting(with trial makeup) - 28/05/08, 6:30pm
Photography - 13/06/08, 10am to 6pm
fit b4 wedding - 10/09/08, 6:30pm

I guess this is one of the most anticipated and exciting part of a wedding for all ladies. Honestly, i can't wait to choose my gowns! =D

two excited melons

2007-12-31T01:24:00.000+08:00

I know this sounds a bit kiasu... but... we just bought our dining set and our sofa. AND WE HAVN'T EVEN WENT FOR OUR HDB 1ST APPOINTMENT.... *hides* -.-

think we're just too excited about our new house! Can't wait!

My own house... finally!!

2007-11-23T14:13:00.002+08:00

If nothing goes wrong, i'm gonna be the happy owner of a 5-rm reale flat in Hougang soon! Viewing houses can be such a tedious process, especially with the market prices being ridiculously high recently. We've seen flats that are totally not worth the price that was quoted by the seller, and wondering what's going on in the minds of these funny people. Nonetheless, we're happy!

my DIY aid

2007-11-08T18:15:00.003+08:00

http://www.marthastewart.com

I love Martha Steward Living. Its a really good source of ideas that i'll need for any DIY stuffs from wedding to home furnishing. The stuffs they feature are just lovely. Though the dear gives me that 'look' whenever i surf onto that site. Like... "what kinda boring site is that?" duh... -.-

Finding the perfect venue

2007-11-02T13:01:00.006+08:00

I've always wanted a more westernised wedding, something different from the traditional hotel ballroom chinese banquet-style ordinary weddings.

My ideal wedding is to have an outdoor wedding. Maybe a garden or beach wedding getting us ever so close to nature while we celebrate this special day. But i soon recon that this idea is way too impractical for the weather in singapore. Also due to the fact that i'll be having a church wedding, i thought that CHIJMES is definately one of the perfect place for it, plus the lovely outdoor premises just outside the chapel! However, its kinda out of our budget. =(

After much sourcing and consideration while looking for THE place for my outdoor-wedding, i was sort of brought back to reality and realised that the 'ordinary' hotel ballroom wedding is still the most practical and hassle-free choice. Theres simply too much extra planning and costs that'll be needed for an outdoor-wedding. Plus the fact that i'm not one who believes in spurging money on a 'once-in-a-lifetime' wedding. I rather spend my money on my new home. =)

After putting together our various considerations, e.g location of venue, our budget, our intended no. of tables, the perks included within the package, available dates etc, finally we end up with Park Hotel Orchard. It's one of the few small ballrooms that does not have any pillars blocking the guests' view of the stage. So there we have... Convenient location at the centre of orchard road, ballroom size is just right for our no of tables, good promotions and perks given, nice wedding suite... and most importantly, the available dates suit our planning! We're happy! 28th Sep will it be!

cafe de mar

Poolside wedding @ Roxy Mercury Hotel

Mount Faber

CHIJMES

Park hotel Orchard

Its been long!

2007-11-01T14:34:00.002+08:00

Helo, virtual world!

Was trying to recall how long it had been from the last time i made a post on my own blog... and i lost count....

Somehow or rather, i foresee that this year will be one of the most eventful year of my life. As much as possible, i'll like to keep a record of the trails along the road that leads me to chapter two of my life. Since day one that i started on the various preparations, then did i realise that gettin marred is really not an easy task (and accept this fact: its not just between 2 persons!). Nevertheless, it's definately a lovely process to go through!