JUST FOR YOU

We go for a walk

Sit down and talk

Its like were the same person

But were two

Your my bestfriend and I love you,

A fight our friendship will mend

You'll be my bestfriend til' the end

Sorry if I ever did anything to make you mad

At the end of the day were both glad

Its never a bore,we always have something to do

Your my best friend and I love you

Were so different compared to others we never try to blend

You will be my best friend to the end

One month already?

Today, the 18th of January 2005, marks one month since I became Mrs Don. As luck would have it, we wun be celebrating this special day together. He's still locked up in that reservist camp somewhere in Clementi while I am going thru life like a single gal...

We're both such suckers for anniversaries so we're a bit sore that we are separated on this special day. Every year we celebrate 3 different anniversaries, one for the day we had our first date, one for the time we "officially" became a couple, one more for ...sshhhhhh This year we'll have a 4th anniversary day - wedding anniversary.

Another Month Has Past

by Christina Bragagnolo

I feel more for you than the month before, you are not just my lover, but you are also my friend. You are the one I will stand proud with until our lives end. I am more in love with you as each month passes. Through good times and bad, through arguments and fights, you are the one I want to forever spend my nights.
I have never felt so close, so comfortable with anyone before. You have made these months so wonderful and wanting so many more. The vision of you and I is so clear; nothing could ever change my mind, for you are the one I will forever hold close and dear. Our lives will never be apart, you will forever be my air and I will forever be your heart. You are the man I have always wanted. You are the man who means the world to me.

Happy Anniversary!

More wedding pics up!!!

Posing with the Mercedes 300 CLK convertible which was our wedding car for the day. We took the unconventional route by choosing to drive ourselves instead of being chauffered.

Oooohh if only that car were ours........!!!!

Paris est la ville de l'amour. Paris - the city of Luuurve........

Paris is truly a romantic city. There are amorous couples everywhere, in cafes, on park benches and even on the streets. In gardens (and there are gardens everywhere in Paris) couples sit in each other's arms, oblivious to the world passing by. And people kiss anywhere, everywhere. Really an ideal honeymoon destination. Kept us in the "mood" all the time. The Don was super romantic the whole time we were there. *wink* *wink*

We didn't leave for our honeymoon immediately after the wedding like most newlyweds do. Having had the wedding in our own house, we felt we had to at least ensure our guests had a comfortable stay the remaining days they were in town, especially after they have toiled so much for our wedding. So we eventually left on the following Thursday after the wedding. The flight to Paris was looong.... 13 hours long but we hardly felt it. And not just because we were in each other's arms (nope we didn't manage to join the mile high club. shucks!!) but the in-flight entertainment was fantastic and because it was a night flight, we spend most the time sleeping. Kudos to our wunderful travel agent who chose us the flights with the best timing so that we do not lose any unneccesary time due to the time difference.

When we reached Paris at 6am the following morning, I had my first real experience of what the fish in my freezer felt. Vapour kept coming out of my mouth as I spoke(In a goofy moment we actually tried to catch the vapour coming out of my mouth bit with our digicam but it didn't show!!) and my fingers felt numb. For a moment, I had this horrible feeling our 3 luggage were not enough to last us in the weather. We asked the Parishuttle driver if the weather was always this cold. Imagine our surprise when he replied in typical French accented English "Oh Noh noh noh...today is very hot!!" Temp. check 10 degrees celsius. In the following days we were there, the temp. was always within 5 to 2 degrees celcius. By the second day we had gotten used to the weather (but of course we both wore like 4 layers each)but the winds were icy cold. I could be halfway in conversation with The Don but when the wind blew my way I felt like my face froze. (think "Ice Age") I'd stopped mid-conversation (sometime with my mouth open) and freeze till the wind blew another direction. Bbbrrrrrrrrrr....


Our hotel sat on a tiny street called Rue Juge, in the 7th arrondissement(district), less than 5 mins from the Eiffel Tower. It seemed everything in Paris is tiny. Even the room was tiny. It was just slightly bigger than the width and length of the queen size bed that occupied the room. Lucky the room was comfy so the size didn't quite matter. And the best part was our room was on the topmost floor and we had a direct view of the Tour Eiffel from our balcony. (yes our room had a balcony!!!)
2nd shock of the day --> the size of elevators in Paris.


Midway through our stay in Paris we switched hotels to one in the Montparnasse area, just to have an additional experience. This time we stayed here. on Rue Blomet in the 15th arrondissement(district). Both hotels served a great variety of breads for breakfast and their hot chocolate was simply to die for. Both places served us Monbana hot chocolate. Its sooo delicious it's almost sinful. Apparently its a made-in-france Chocolate product. The taste is like melted chocolate. Pure unadulterated chocolate!!! We did pilfer a few sachets from the breakfast room and back to Singapore but we have run out now. I wonder if Cold Storage carries them.

The streets of Paris are mighty interesting. (To Musang: they have vending Durex machines on the street!!) On almost every street you'll see a boulangerie / patissier The French really love their bread.
and on every 3 streets, you'd see a chocolatier. Remember the 2000 French movie "Chocolat" starring Juliet Binoche & Johnny Depp ? (my first encounter with all things French and my inspiration for a Parisian honeymoon) Well its exactly like that. A whole shop selling nothing else but chocolates!!! So much so when we actually went on our first walk down the streets of Paris we decided not to take the Metro and walk everywhere we wanted to go so that we can take in all the sights and sounds. And walk we did. Everywhere including to the Mosquee De Paris which was a good 2 hours away.

This photo didnt do justice to the majesticness of the mosque. The interior of the mosque is humongous and walled with coloured mosaics.

The first place we went was of course the Tour Eiffel. Most of the buildings in Paris are not more than 6-8 storeys so you could practically see the Tour Eiffel from quite a distance away. Even in the day, when we walk past it, we are kept in awe

and at night.... it was tres magnifique

During our stay we managed to visit all the major attractions like Hotel des Invalides (where Napolean's tomb still rests today), the Jardin de Luxembourg, the Pantheon, the Arch de Triomphe, the Sacre Coure & of course the Lourve.


Most people cautioned us against going to Paris for fear that we'd starve and come back losing weight. Actually the complete opposite happened. Halal cafes are a dime a dozen in Paris. Mostly set up by Arab-Lebanese-Turkish migrants, they sell mostly kebabs and doner sandwiches. And seriously, the kebabs there are the absolute best The Don and I have ever tasted in our lives. We ended up eating them everyday for the entire duration of our stay there. We could choose any filling we wanted - chunks of poulet (chicken), boeuf (beef) or turkey (dinde) and and they came in various forms and sizes. some marinated, some smoked and some roasted. The fillings are generous and usually one kebab is enough to last us a whole day.


The highlight of the whole honeymoon to Paris for me (apart from the obvious!!!) was the trip down to Champs Elyses (pronounced: Shaun Selisey) Its the creme de la creme of shopping districts, ala the Oxford Street of London, the Fifth Avenue of New York, the Orchard Rd oops that doesn't quite make the list now does it? its lined with the kinda shops you wouldn't walk into unless u have maximum credit on your credit card (which I don't!!) The most interesting store of all is the Louis Vuitton, where the shop is actually an oversized LV bag itself. (dun believe all that u hear LV in Paris ain't cheap!!!! I was duped too!!!)


In the last few days of our stay, for the experience (actually our feet were sore!!!) we took the Metro. The metro system is very much like our MRT with interchanges for switching lines but there, the Metro is interlinked with the RER, the suburban train that goes to the outskirts of Paris. (much like the way the Kommuter is linked to the LRT in KL)

The doors to the Metro do not open automatically when the train reaches the platform. There is a latch on the door that you will have to unhook to get in or out but of course we didn't know that so we waited outside the door for it to open. Lucky The Don noticed the latch and we barely made it in before the train moved off. (the door closes automatically though!)

Our first destination via Metro was Galleries Lafayette. I remember frequenting this place with my sisters when they had a branch in Singapore so I thought I knew what to expect but boy was I wrong!!!! There are 5 buildings altogether and each building (5 storeys high with 2 basement floors) is one department!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (there's La Mode (women fashion), Homme (men's fashion) Maison (Household Dept) Gourmet (the cafes, restaurants & supermarches) and of course Lafayette Naissance(children & toys))

Thats the main building you see, the Lafayette La Mode (Women's fashion)
BTW Lore'al users, Lore'al products are dirt cheap there!!! Not so for the other stuff though!!!!


But the absolute grande moment was our ascent up the Eiffel Tower. We pass by the Eiffel everyday on our way to anywhere and everytime the lines up the elevator are snaky long. On our last night in Paris, we thought if we dun do this now, we'll never know when we will get to again so we braved the crowds and waited in line to go up to the topmost level. The lifts looked scary from where we stood as it was double level and ascended not straight up but in a skewered way following the bottom slope of the tower.

the elevator to the 2nd storey.
The view from the top was breathtaking. We could see the whole of Paris. Of all the shots we took from up above I like this one best, a bird's eye view of the River Seine.


Almost nightly we would plan our route such that we will stroll alongside the River Seine. The view from the riverside is fantastic. With the flood lights from the top of the Eiffel sweeping past us, the illumination of the tower itself and the lights of the cruise ships down on the river, it was a picturesque scene. We had our most romantic moments while strolling hand in hand here. Truly I can't think of a better place to spend our honeymoon - a culmination to the eight years of our relationship, the beginning of our journey into the paths of eternal love and the start of a lifelong marriage, Insy'allah. I'll never be able to forget the wonderful, wonderful memories we created together in this city of love. Given the rezeki, we'd sure like to come back one day, this time with kids in tow, Insy'allah.

Lights..Camera ...ACTION!!!

Oh and yes..the video is ready too. After such a long wait, its finally ready and was delivered to our doorstep on Sunday. I must say the wait though excruciating was a worthy one. The Don and I, we will allocate one weekend within this month, Insyallah, where we will invite all our friends for a makan makan session at our place to view both the photographs and video. It will be sumthing small, merely an act of appreciation for our friends and close family members for their effort, time and energy in our wedding. Especially for our two bestest friends Mahanom and Hafiz who stayed by our sides respectively and put in effort, time, energy and even money to make sure our wedding went as smoothly as we did. The both of you are truly truly great friends. Insyallah there will come a day when The Don and I can repay you in kind.

Please let us know when u guys r free (u know who u r)... I'm thinking the Hari Raya Haji Chinese New Year weekend. Any takers?

Marital Bliss

Thats the wedding ring being placed on my finger by THE DON. Its a heart shaped diamond ring in a solitaire setting. And that ring at the bottom of the photo is my diamond solitaire engagement ring.

It took a while to sink in that I am now married. It wasn't quite obvious when we were in Paris (oops I promised an entry on Paris) coz it was just the two of us and we were having so much fun. Since we got back, there has been quite a few times when I actually forgot I am now ALREADY married to him. Sometimes he reaches out to hold my hand or put his arms around me and I instinctively pull away when there is someone else in sight. It takes a glance at the shiny shimmery stone on finger for me to recall, "HEY WE'RE MARRIED NOW" and I slink into his arms. So now you know why we girls need our wedding rings to be huge ...hehehe

Anyway married life has been bliss. We look forward to each new day like we never did before and we can't wait to end the work day so that we can be together again. The Don has been sending and fetching me to and from work every day since he had a car (since 5 years ago) but now that we are married, waking up in the mornings, getting ready, having breakfast together, leaving for work together and seeing him sitting in the car waiting for me at the office porch at the end of the day, brings a whole new feeling altogether. I was kinda afraid the honeymoon would end when we boarded the plane at Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris but alhamdulillah, it seems like we are on extended honeymoon.

Sadly however, the honeymooning will have to take a short break. From tomorrow onwards (till the end of January) The Don will be on reservist in-camp-training *sob**sob* so I'll get to see him only on weekends. And today he's off to KL to settle outstanding matters regarding his Malaysian company. Well, absence makes the heart grows fonder. (or so they say... I wonder if it's true)

Married life has been simply splendid so far, despite the ironing and the cooking and the laundry(uurrgh!!) (of course it helps having my mom staying part time with us, when she's around I dun have to cook) And The Don has been very helpful. When he sees me busy, he helps out and he does it well so I dun have to go over and re-do it. (unlike most husbands, I've heard)

Despite what I've heard, having parents-in-law (in particular mom-in-law) ain't difficult at all. Alhamdulillah The Don's mom is very understanding and extremely flexible. His dad is rather reserved initially but once he warms up, he is chatty and is a great conversationalist. Truly I feel that instead of getting parents-in-law I have actually acquired another set of parents. It does help, of course that The Don and I put in the effort to make time to spend with both sides of the family throughout the years. Especially when we brought both sides of the family together. During the wedding, everyone knew everybody. That was what made the wedding even more joyous.

Since we came back from Paris, we've been doing our rounds to all the elders. So far we have covered most of my Singapore side of the family and half of The Don's side. The visits we have had were mighty interesting. Everyone seemed soo happy to receive us and almost every house we went to prepared lavish amounts of food and had huge gifts for us. So far, in our post-marriage rounds alone we have received a toaster, a sandwich maker, pyrex sets, a oven toaster, an electric kettle, a spice rack, a silverware set and a whole set of buffet food warmers. Not to mention numerous tudungs, telekungs, sejadahs and even silk material and of course cash. As The Don puts it, "Your side give presents meant for you, my side also give presents meant for you" hehehehe the privileges of being a woman.....

For the wedding too we received a great deal of presents. Mostly crystals as my family know I like things bling-bling. So we have a crystal glass set (courtesy of my cousin Safiah), a crystal bowl set (courtesy of Mahanom) a whole fine porcelain dinner and tea set (courtesy of my cousin Kak Ida and Abg Wan), 3 other dinner sets and numerous other tea sets and kitchen ware. Not to mention the dozens of tudungs, materials and bedsheets. We could really open a shop with all the things we have got.
From my dearest Kak Ida & Abg WanFrom my best fren Mahanom.

The Wedding

I started on this entry many times, only to delete it all and start all over again from scratch. Me? loss for words?? Impossible?? Yeah I know but I really dunno what to write. I wish I can tell u all about my wedding in the minutest detail but I realised I hardly knew what was happening. For the most part of both days, I was in a daze, on cloud 9, had my head in the clouds etc, etc. As my cousins said it, I only had eyes for HIM. and him ME. Ok go puke now.

I'll tell u a lil' about the days leading up to the wedding though. The first instance of family camping over was my grandaunt and 2 teenage cousins from Pahang on the prior Sunday. Then my uncle and aunt with their 6 kids in tow on Tuesday morning. I was already on leave from work from Tuesday the 16th onwards (till 3rd Jan 05). On Wednesday the flood gates opened and all my relatives came one family by one family with luggage in tow. We had to designate the study room to be the Luggage room. The old folks in my mom's and the anak dara's in the bridal chamber. Thursday we had a berzanji reciting majlis cum doa selamat and tahlil. And friday was the "berinai" day. I dislike fancy smancy henna designs and so my aunt brought freshly plucked n pounded henna from Pahang. But seeing my niece, Yasmin armed with a henna tube she went all the way to Serangoon to get and an enthusiasm enough to fill a balloon, I let her decorate my palm and the back of my hands. After all, its as much my wedding as it is the family's.

Saturday was chaotic with last minute addition to the hantaran trays such as fresh fruits and cake. But everything went by in a breeze as soon as the Mak Andam arrived. By the time I was ready, the house was full of people and before long, HE arrived. I felt my heart jumped over the Great Wall of China. With one breath he uttered the words that forever change both our lives. And I heard all of it, every single word, as The Don made sure I did. He and Hafiz wired up the room with speakers so that I can hear the whole "lafaz". We were greatly honoured that Habib Hasan Al-Attas graced our nikah ceremony with his presence and even presided over the ceremony. In fact, if my cousins are to be believed, The Don looked visibly relaxed when Habib Hasan walked in.

The dinner we held that night was more fun than anything else. We were welcomed by 7 flower girls and a whole barage of papparazis. The cute flower girls looked so radiant in their cream princess dress and maroon head bands. And another great honour we were bestowed upon was Ustz Dahari's and wife's presence during our wedding dinner.

Sunday morning was another mad rush. The morning started with Maulud recited by my brother-in-law's group Qafilah, followed by the singing of Qasidah. According to my neighbour LizaNoor Arabic songs filled the atmosphere.

It was nerve-wrecking yet fun to see my husband being stopped so many times by my family members. It was an uproar when instead of the usual envelope, he produced his passport and a white card, as if entering Malaysia. (I am a Malaysian, in case u didn't know and so were most of the family members at my wedding) They made 2 checkpoints for him and his entourage, one with all my uncles and one with all my aunts. 10 envelopes later + 1 thick envelope to the Mak Andam, he finally got to sit beside me on the dias.

An eternity of photos later, we left for The Don's side. Instead of being driven, THE DON drove the wedding car himself and I sat next to him. As we got into the Mercedes Benz CLK convertible, my Mak Andam remarked, "Da banyak banyak pengantin I, tak pernah I tengok pengantin bawak kereta sendiri macam cik abang ni" Hehehhee. There was a crowd of guests around our wedding car but what I was not prepared for was the crowd of people (non-guests) who actually saw us from afar and came near to gawk at the car. The drive to THE DON's side accompanied by a few cars and 2 bus loads (one for his relatives, one for mine) was definitely the most memorable drive in my entire life.


Alhamdulillah everything went super well.... it didn't rain and the food was delicious. (according to my guests lah, I swallowed without tasting, hehe) And thanks to our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, the whole wedding was a huge success.

Next entry.... Honeymoon in Paris......

HONEYMOON

My cousins called The Don and me asking where we were going for our honeymoon. When we said we were going to SENTOSA, they were audibly upset. One cousin even offered to sponsor half the cost of our honeymoon to Australia, if we want. hehehe So sweeeeett of them.

Ok ok .... I'll fess up. We are going to the ULTIMATE honeymoon destination. The most romantic city in the world (or so they say)

(Click the title to see where)

On Hiatus

OOppss.... its been awhile hasn't it???

The PC has been teleported to the *new* home but still unplugged. The Don's PC(s) are of course available but I've been too busy I've hardly had the chance to even switch it on. And in the office, I've been busy clearing up my work after all come 15th Dec, I'll be taking my leave aaaaaallllll the way till next year. So I've got loads to do!!

Let do a lil' update shall we?

Umi and I have moved into the *new* house proper since last weekend. Most of our new furniture has arrived. Our King-sized bridal bed is HUMONGOUS!!!!!!! And I absolutely luurrveee it!!!! But we are keeping it intact(uncovered and still plastic-covered) till the ppl from the decor company comes to put their bedsheets. (I'm itching to lay out my ivory satin & organza sheets but I'll have to wait till after the wedding) The only thing left to come is our dresser and side tables. They will only arrive on the 15th Dec.

The kitchen's all ready. We finally bought our fridge and washing machine. Since we are on a tight budget, we initially wanted to only buy a small washing machine & fridge but somehow the complete opposite happened. We even had a "slight" problem trying to make it sit nicely on the fridge base. But that's been resolved. And my washing machine can fit a small baby elephant at 8.5kg hehehe. I've even started cooking at the *new* house thanks to my mom who bought for us all the necessary kitchen utensils - from saucepans to ladles to basins etc etc.

The only we need now are carpets. My siblings will be letting me use theirs for the event but we'll still need our own carpets after everything is over. So anybody with any lobangs for cheap cheap carpets do drop me a tag yah?

The Don and I feel that we are truly blessed, Alhamdulillah. Firstly, everything that we have planned has been executed perfectly, some even better than what we expected. Everyone is happy for us and are equally excited to hold this wedding. We feel that at no time at all, even at our lowest point, were we ever really alone. At every corner there would be someone offering a helping hand, either financially, physically or even emotionally. Sometime we both feel so touched that we wonder if everyone else has it this easy. And the relationship between us have been better than before that if I could, I'd like to preserve it just the way it is now, for the rest of our lives. We were especially touched when all my family in Malaysia, made it a point to come down to our wedding. Even my granduncles who are old and sickly will be coming. We are truly truly happy and honestly feel so blessed that soo many people are finding joy in our union. It costs a bomb to come down to Singapore as getting a Malaysian passport costs RM300.00 and the cost of entering Singapore by car per weekday is SG$30.00. And most of my relatives in Malaysia have at least 4 kids so you do the maths!! Not to mention the hassle of the traffic jam and the long car journey down to Singapore. To top it off some of them will have to pay for their own accomodation as my house and my sister's can't fit everyone. But somehow even the cut-throat Singapore Govt has suddenly discovered they actually have a heart and is reducing the entry payment to SGD$20 perday and is lowering the time for free entry down to 12noon instead of the usual 7pm. What a wonderful coincidence!!

So basically everything is all set. Just a few minor knick knacks and everything is complete. Do pray for me that the actual wedding ceremony will go on just as smoothly.

Yes, I'll Marry You


Yes, I'll marry you, my dear,
And here's the reason why;
So I can push you out of bed
When the baby starts to cry,
And if we hear a knocking
And it's creepy and it's late,
I hand you the torch you see,
And you investigate.

Yes, I'll marry you, my dear,
You may not apprehend it,
But when the tumble-drier goes
It's you that has to mend it,
You have to face the neighbour
Should our labrador attack him,
And if a drunkard fondles me
It's you that has to whack him.

Yes, I'll marry you,
You're virile and you're lean,
My house is like a pigsty
You can help to keep it clean.
That sexy little dinner
Which you served by candlelight,
As I do chipolatas,
You can cook it every night!

It's you who has to work the drill
and put up curtain track,
And when I've got PMT it's you who gets the flak,
I do see great advantages,
But none of them for you,
And so before you see the light,
I do, I do, I do!

- Pam Ayres