…before turns MRS. Ouch.

Im still melepak di Miri, waiting for my flight to JB tonight.

Friday – mama kata raja sehari harus berehat di rumah. Takleh buat apa2 kerja. Orang henna dtg pakaikan inai

Saturday – Officially Mrs MNI. InsyaAllah. Ouuhh lalala.

Sunday – Reception. Silalah dtg

Monday – Off to KK. En MNI ada workshop (workaholic kan bakal laki ku ini) -cum 1st honeymoon. Lalala!

Wednesday – Kembali ke JB dari KK.

Thursday – Balik Melaka for second reception.

Saturday – Reception di Melaka. (Sila dtg jugak)

Monday – Off to HuangZhou for honeymoon. Wheeee!!! Tengah winter. Oh sejuk. Ekeke. (Aku sangat mahu pergi itu West Lake. Sila surf internet kalau taktau)

Friday – Kembali ke Msia.

Saturday – shopping barang utk rumah baru yang bakal dapat kunci end of this month. Ouu teruja!

Sunday – Kembali ke Miri.

Monday – Kembali bekerja. Ok that suxs.

Total cuti : 17 hari termasuk weekend. Whee i loike.

Sudah. Doakan semuanya berjalan lancar. Aku tenang je ni. En MNI la panic sudah dari pagi tadi. Hehe.

XOXO

3 more days?

Gulp.

Still tak rasa panic lagi. And I dont have the bride-to-be sweat or whatsoever.

In fact I am still stuck in the office. Dang ~

Apekah maknanya?

Ohh me so likey likey the baju nikah !

Kurung moden yang sangat simple. Boleh pakai lagi lepas ni \(-_-)/

1. Balik Melaka malam ni (Ohh mama suda merajuk asyik balik rumah bakal mentua, tapi JB takmo balik. Huuhh). Tak sempat OK nak balik JB. Sebab Sabtu kena gi KL, then Ahad nak balik Miri lagi.
2. Our baju nikah are ready ! Whee. Lalalala. Gonna pick them up on Saturday.
3. The banner and bunting are also ready ! Yeay. Also pick up on Saturday. (Silalah aku show off dgn design banner & bunting ini. Hohh lepas aku komplen 4 kali, ni lah yangb terbaik we could get. Banner plus bunting for RM250)
4. Tengok Pisau Cukur
5. Tengok 2012
6. Uruskan opening kedai kami
7. Oldtown kopitian is a must ! Sila kata aku jakun. Memang di Miri, tade coffee sehebat rasa oldtown itu.

Past Sentence: Yang buat aku benar-benar nak balik, ialah sebab nak tengok wayang ! Haha. Taknak aku masuk cinema kat Miri yang ada tikus jalan-jlan. Disamping screen yang boleh minimise. Like errk wtf kan?

Tata.

I had not thought of having a beriya-iya henna for our big day. Reason:

• I am just too lazy to wait for it to dry. Which at least an overnight to get a good colour. If pakai simple-simple nya design, I can still tido tegolek-golek lagi. Dah kalau pakai berbunga bagai, bebelit-belit design nya, haruslah aku tido tegakk je kaki dan tangan?
• I am a lazy bump. Again, my fingers hardly surf the internet to find any good henna designer.
• I dont want to spend a lot on henna yang tahan like for 2 weeks? Pakai inai pokok lagi save kannn? Warna pun cantik I tell you.

And hey, ya right ! Knowing me yang  konon je cakap takmo itu dan ini, I ended up with this one ! Haha. Sila kata aku over. Which apparently yes, I am ;p Aku pun tak sedar, tiba-tiba dah call Ms Seetha pembuat Henna, book date,confirm and tanpar sedar begitu laju aku mem-maybankk2u deposit.

To Johor bride to be:

I got this for RM280 (for hands and feet. Hands up to wrist)

Ms. Seetha Laxmi 019 7086971, No 9A Jln Titiwangsa 3/2,Tmn Tampoi Indah, JB

www.seethas.com.my. She own a bridal for Indian. So sagt pakar buat ini henna.

Past sentence: Wehh bapa harga henna average ni. Aku kena tipu ka, or harga ini reasonable. Mana wa tau kan, tak penah kawen lagi. Kehkhe.

Today is a very sleepy day. Touched down in Miri last night, unpacked, clearkan laundry yada..yada..yada. And duumm tido dan liat sungguh untuk bangun pagi tadi. All my tulangs sangat lenguh!

And Singapore trip was superb ! I’ll spare that for later entry oke. Because sangat malas pada ketika ini. Kehkeh.

The most relieving thing happened when we were back in JB, was – documents kawen dah settle! Yeaaha. Alhamdulillah And nak tahu experience menghantar borang di Pejabat Agama JB?

1. Pressed the queuing button at 9:56 am. Got to the counter at 10:30 am. Ok not bad at all. Quick service I would say for government nya urusan. Thumbs up!
2. Submitted the borangs to ustaz yang mukanya agak ketat, buat aku takut ok. The fact that Im a Johorian and pasti dia soal aku macam2 pada sesi interview. oh takut mak. I asked En MNI to come along (padehal he doesnt have to because dia kan orang Melaka). Ustaz tu tak pandang pun En MNI. Dia soal aku sorang saje. Luckily, questions yang memang tak pelik, seperti rukun nikah, doa qunut dan erti kalimah syahadah. Itu pun buat aku panic sebab ustaz tu nye misai pun aku dah gentar beb. Hiks. The interview part was also superb ! (Sebab tak tanya aku bnyk2 macam nak peksa Fardhu Ain)
   
3. Ok Ustaz tu dah cop cop cop segala documen bagai. Fuuuhh lega saya rasa ! Then we had to wait for sijil kebenaran nikah. This part was super lembab macam ayam. Waa sudah angin di situ sebab perut ku sudah berbunyik kelaparan. Just imagine, they have 3 counters for borang nikah submission and interview, then suma documents yang dah approve ni suma hantar kat sorang minah ni yang ala-ala perempuan melayu terakhir wat kerja. Aku nak je sound dia suh cargas sket menaip. Aduhaiii. We spent almost 1 hour waiting. This part was terrible! Aku sampai duduk depan minah tu tengok dia menaip ok, supaya dia nampak muka aku yang dah sengal menunggu dia.
4. After 1 hour, baru dapat surat kebenaran nikah. Surat ni bagi kat Pak Imam Ayub sebab dia akan jadik jurunikah. Heehe.

After kuar dari pejabat agama, zass ke post office gi pos suma kad kawen. Sebelum tu aku takut nak pos, selagi tak dapat kebenaran nikah kan. Hoh.

Dan after that, zaasss terus kami ke Singapore and shopping macam orang meroyan. Tak balik umah pun lepas hantar borang nikah tu. Mama ku pun cool saje, so ok je lah. Heeh suka suka. But kaki sakit sampai hari ni ok!

Past sentence: Video pre-wedding pun dah siap and dah upload pun oleh Sulaiman; videographer kami yang sporting habes. Merci.

Firstly, yesss..I know it’s too early to talk about wedding gifts. But its weekend for God sake and I have ample time to search on the list (which En MNI did actually. Heeh); after we were about to pecah and teburai perut dine in noor’s crib dengan memakan ikan bakar + siput panjang-panjang + udang sweet sour + sup sayur + sambal terung tempe +big apple + durian. And after dinner, begelak ketawa tebahak-bahak tengok sehati bedansa minggu pertama yang menari macam kayu atau tiang yang bejalan dan melintak liuk. Hehe. Perut kenyang, ketawa tebahak-bahak.Its a perfect combo ey ;p

Secondly, sila jangan kata kami gila mahukan hadiah perkahwinan. Hehe. It was not our practise dulu to list out what we wish as wedding gifts. But I guess, people now are more open and accept wedding registry as to ease them in finding gifts. And of course to avoid kau dapat 5 sterika dan 8 periuk nasik selepas kawen. Celah mana pulak kan nak masak nasik dalam 8 periuk. Hiks ;D So whatever we list here is just for panduan. Please let us know if you intent bermurah hati nak bagi salah satu daripada barangan ini.

Apa-apa pun, as panduan shj ok. If bukan model atau brand seperti yang tertera pun, kami tidak kisah sama sekali.. Takde masalah pun if yang lain. Seriously no problemo at all.

Even takde hadiah pun, we dont mind at all. The most important thing is your presence utk memeriahkan majlis kami, and of course doa kamu semua agar kami bahagia hingga hujung nyawa ( oh tiba-tiba aku tak sabar nak kawen. Hiks)

• LG Air Purifier – LG (PS N550WP)

• Food steamer – Kenwood (FS 470)

• Bagless vacuum cleaner – LG (V KC881HT)

• Microwave – LG (MP 94855)

• Pressure cooker – Kenwood (W PC06)

• Health grill – Kenwood (HG 266)

• Cake mixer – Kenwood (KMX50)

• Hot water dispenser/ airpot – Kenwood (AP730)

• Rice jar – Kenwood (RJ 650)

• Slow cooker – Kenwood (P 657)

• Tefal cookware – Selective set

• Knife complete set

• Cordless phone – Panasonic

• PS3 Slim

• Quilt Cover – King size

• IKEA hall lamp

And these are big items which mcm mana pun, kami kena jugak beli apabila memasuki rumah baru. If ada yang bermurah hati nak semadikan sebagai hadiah, we are more than happy to accept. Wink Wink.

• LCD TV- LG (LH50)

• Home theather – LG (HT964 TZ)

• Fridge – LG (GR C217 LG JW)

• Washing machine – LG (WD SR1212AC)

Suspen tak dengan gamabarajah di atas? I read an entry about telur rebus from here. Terus my mind diverts to door gifts that will be given to all guests nanti. So the gambar above is about eggs as in door gifts, not something else.

The article says, the current culture no more has eggs as door gifts. People are more confortable to give chocolates, muffins or even candy, right? Memang iya pun, the latest wedding that we attended had kuih makmur as door gift! Sempena raya mungkin (thanks hafidz & ayu J ). But the truth is, telur rebur still play an important role here because kalau bagi telur rebus tu, barulah rasa traditional and the kemeriahan wedding itu! But the concept sama je actually, kau bagi makanan, dan orang sama ada makan atau ditongsampahkan. Adoi la hai.

So, aku tetap berkeras nak telur rebus gak for my wedding. Take it or leave it. I still think telur is a-must-have thing on a wedding day. Katalah apa korang nak kata, aku nak jugak! In the end of the day, still kena ada telur rebus jugak utk letak kat bunga pahar, no? Unless u wanna put ferrero roche lah kan.

And being a johorian, aku berkeras nak telur pindang jugak! Don’t have any idea what its all about? Telur pindang ini sangat popular di bahagian selatan Negara, especially Johor lah of course. If you go to Johorian wedding, tak sah kalau tade telur pindang ini. Camni lah rupanya.

Some info about telur pindang :

• This special eggs are boiled with variety of herbs and spices. And herba-herba ini akan bertindak sebagai preservatives yang memanjangkan tempoh hayat telur pindang itu. Which means ianya akan lebih tahan lama compared to telur rebus biasa!
• Telur ni dimasak dalam air garam for 3 freakin’ days. Sakit pinggang jugak lah nak menjaganya. And it needs penjagaan rapi to get the right water level and temperature.
• Herbs yang diguna pakai adalah termasuk galangal, ginger, lemon grass, coriander and aniseeds, guava leaves and senduduk (ni suma aku pun tatau apekah dia). The leaves stain the shells a brownish and bluish colour. And  the spices and ingredients used turn the egg white into a light brown colour.  

Camtulah kisahnye. So kami pun tatau lagi mana nak tempah telur pindang ni di Johor Bahru. So to those yang ada info on this, please help us ok.

Tengkiu

Past sentence: Jumaat ni Sarawak cuti. Hoorey hoorey!

Our wonderful, fabulous photographer is toning our wedding photos. Here is a little preview.

Did I tell you that we’ll be wearing black & white during our reception. Lantakle labu.. Memang lari dari impian asal aku which Im soooo into red & black, but takpe lah. After pilih baju hari tu, I think that dress fits me well. And I got persetujuan from all the gedixs BFF and they all agreed baju itu menarik tetarik dan mmg d’ bomb. Hiks sila angkat bakul sendiri skarang. Bluek.

Akan tetapi, the problem now is En MNI’s baju. He (and me jugak) really wants the 3 piece baju.Not the normal baju melayu. And of course we want it to be white paired with black sampin and tanjak (or is it tengkolok weh)! Because my baju sudah sarat hitam putih kannn? We were so ignorant before this tak pernah plak tanya pasal baju pengantin lelaki assuming that they have it all. Aiiyo benda penting macam ni boleh kami tak ingat. And I just called Adi Bridal tadi and guess what? They only have black 3-piece baju melayu. White sik ada deh! Bengang plak aku! Urghhhhhhh.

To get the crystal picture of what Im babbling about, sila tengok gamba ni. Cenggini lah lebih kurang baju lelaki 3-piece putih yang En MNI and aku nak. Baju perempuan bukan macam gamba ni iya. Takkann pulak aku nak tayang baju sanding kat sini kann? Haha!

Taken from Pesona Pengantin

So now, should he go with white normal baju melayu, or black 3-piece baju melayu? Haiiiiihhh. (Aku rasa nak suh Adli Bridal jahit white 3-piece baju melayu just for us.  Sempat kahhh. Susah weh, kami jauh kat seberng laut ni. Tetekan di sini)

Past sentence: Esok E MNI balik Miri. Yeay! Dah 1 week tinggalkan aku oke.

Comel tak tanda arah kami? Hiks. Disebabkan I get full access to coloured printer di o***, why not menggunakan kesempatan yang ada right? Ohh sila jangan ada orang o*** aku terblog-hop ke sini. Wajib aku kena disconnect dari printer nanti. Ayoyo.

I just like the cartoon there. I dont mind if the wordings are tiny but must ensure the cartoon is comey. Then it defeats the purpose of having tanda arah kan? Whatever lah. InsyaAllah anda semua tidak sesat kelak menuju ke rumah kecil kami.

Well, recently we went to a friend’s wedding. Tanda arah mereka gila simple- using marker pen atas kotak pastu bold tulisa dengan mengkalerkan font dengan super tebal. Hooho sangat senang. Watpe aku nak sakit kepala wat tanda arah comel-comel bagaiii. Nanti kena hujan panas ribut petir tecampak jugak ia, kannnn? But u know la lumrah manusia ni, kalau boleh segala macam mak nenek nak buat.

Oppsie one more thing, do check the weather during the W day, so you can decide whether or not to laminate your tanda arah. If ujan yang lebat (mintak mintak tidak lah pada Dec 6 nanti), kang tepenyek-penyek plak tanda arak kamu kebasahan.

Past sentence: Work is killing me like h**l. Im doomed. Tadi balik dari office sampai rumah pukol 730, bukak posa lambat 1 jam (sempat minum air je time buka), then konon nak baring-baring berehat. Tengok-tengok aku tertido sampai pukol 10 malam. I have a technical review tomorrow morning, and I dont have blardy presentation slides done. And what am i doing here berblogging sesuka hati? Hooh.

Aku rasa macam nak benti keja sekarang.

Orang suda mula bertanya, bila nak bagi kad..? Jawapan deault aku – tungguuu. (Ouu aku sugguh lah tak sempat nak revise guest list, bla..bla..bla.. But I do have one ok. Jangan ingat aku tak organise. Aku ni sangat tersusun. Ecece)

So last week, I pushed myself to siap-siap tulis card iya. Reason: aku nak hantar suma ke KL. Kan ke aku balik KL last weekend. So I dont have to post semua kad itu. Sila amik perhatian bahawa aku tade kawan kat Sarawak ni yang nak di hantar kad. If I do, sangat berapa kerat sahaja. Which means all cards need to be sent ke seberng laut. Might as well I used the opportunity of going back dengan sebaik-baiknye kann?

Seminggu dok mengadap kad-kad ini, menyebabkan umah aku messy yaa amatt. Adoi!

Ini pun gamba dah siap kemas. Kalau tak, macam sarang tikus. Iskhh pening saye! Btw, you will not get the card until next month ya. Sebab I passed to someone and suh dia hold suma kad until next month. Cenggitulah kaedahnye.

I can hear its ticking. Ouch.

Past sentence: AKu kena tinggal the whole week minggu ni. Urgh tekanan perasaan.

As promised, the Fall Harvest wedding took place.  Other than alittle chilly, it was a sunny day and a great setting.  The bride and groom walked up the aisle together as he had “lassoed” her.  All were dressed for a country wedding with all the fixin’s.  The ceremony was followed by a great barbeque.  The bride and groom took their first dance together with the groom having the marriage license sticking out of his back pocket.  Once again, the couple were enjoying their day in their own special way and we were grateful to be a part of it. 

Ive been super busy lately ini. Not sure what makes me a busy-bee? Nak kata kerja banyak, semua org pun ada bnyk kerja. Nak kata I have less than 24 hours a day, everyone gets a solid 24 hours a day? Does that mean aku sengaja menyebokkan diri? Hahaa.  (Ohh sila tahu yang aku tak suke kata aku bz and tak cukup masa. Kang Tuhan tarik masa kita kang, itu baru tak cukup masa oke!) As a normal human, everyone has lots of things to do, which you can actually manage without putting others at rasa-tak-best of being ignored. Kind of lah. I know you can, because I’ve experienced zaman dahulu kala once bila mana orang tesangat tak cukup tangan ni kerja ke sana-ke mari, but I just felt loved every single moment without being affected langsung dengan anasir dan unsur-unsur luar.

Apa motif intro dengan tajuk? Hoh lari topic.

Ok back to wed story, one  more thing was checked! Horay! We were a bit behind schedule actually (wahh dah macam project shedule aku la plak), but hopefully everything will go as planned. Please do or else aku meroyan nanti. The reason of melambatkan ujian HIV (hence all the urusan borang2 yang tak buat pape lagi ni) was because aki igtkan ianya valid 2 months aje. rupanya valid 6 bulan ok! Baik kami buat HIV test 4 bulan yang lepas. Mongek ok. Apsal tade sapa bgth kami. Oh sedih.

The results – Alhamdulillah ; negative. Non-reactive ok. For both of us

Maka after this, bole uruskan borang kawen dan segala bagai. Susah nya buat urusan pekahwinan while you are away jauh di seberang lautan dari tempat kejadian kan. Urgh memerlukan tahap kesabaran yang tinggi di situ.

Past Sentence: Balik KL jap gi. Yeay!

I was lucky enough to be contacted back in February by a great couple who I then proceeded to meet at my favourite Panera for tea. We had a nice long interesting chat and got along really well. The big family wedding was then booked for September.

I have never worked with such laid back people. They said ‘write us something’ so I did. The viewed it and only made two changes to the text, to include personal references that their family would enjoy sharing. In the middle of all this excitement they were actually working on their house construction project. My first visit to view the area where the wedding was to take place in their back yard, was enhanced by home made coffee cake and Tetley British Blend Tea. Just as well. we were looking at the stunning back yard, which at that point was a big marsh. The rain had been coming down steadily for days and there was simply no grass. Just mud. Add in the construction work and you can see why they needed an expert eye on the plot.

The space was perfect, and we had a couple of months to go, so I was not worried. I kept a close eye on FaceBook for accounts of the construction progress and watched as a beautiful home was transformed into a stunning home. I got regular updates such as ‘Debi, we have railings!’ accompanied by pictures of the extended and now ’safe’ deck.

The day arrived. I drove to their home which was filled to the brim with happy people. The brides were very informal and this was a great wedding. More like a family and friends party with an added extra. I love those!

We decided against the spot chosen for the ceremony as [you guessed it] it was raining persistently. So the new deck was christened in a very special way. And, yes, it had railings. The yard was tented off and the seating protected from the rain. The food was excellent and the company was good. What more could you want ?

Congratulations to you both!

One day early this summer, Drew and I were at the farmer’s market and noticed all of the beautiful flowers and plants for sale. It seemed like the perfect idea for our wedding flowers. I wasn’t picky about the type of flowers we used, and it was local and affordable. Plus, I loved the idea of heading to the market the day before with a few baskets to collect the flowers that would end up being for my wedding. It seemed so happy and old-fashioned.

So, on Saturday before the ceremony, I headed to the Durham farmer’s market with my mom and Drew’s mom. All summer, vendors had offered buckets and buckets of beautiful things: Gladioli, zinnias, roses, lillies, wisteria.

Guess what was for sale when we arrived? Nothing.

I’m not sure if Labor Day weekend was the time when everything in North Carolina decided to die or what, but there were no flowers to be found. One tent had a giant, beautiful basket full of sunflowers for sale, but I was told they’d already been sold … “for a wedding.”

So, we did the only logical thing and went to the one store that never lets you down and sells everything you need exactly when you need it: Target. Yes, my wedding flowers came from Target.

Where else can you get a new lamp, lipgloss *and* flowers for your wedding?

Just another adorable trip in my clown car

The whole car smelled like flowers. It was a fun ride home!

We are hitched!

The wedding was the best day of my life, the honeymoon was perfect, and calling Drew my husband only feels a little weird.

But it really hit me — really, truly, HIT ME THAT OMG WE ARE MARRIED — yesterday, when my name change kicked in at work, in the middle of an e-mail thread.

Surreal.

Photos & stories to come soon, so keep checking back. And if you were at the wedding and took pictures, I would love it if you would send me copies! It was all a fuzzy, happy dream and I don’t remember much, so photos of anything and everything would make my day.

And thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who was there. It was absolutely lovely and we are so grateful that so many of you traveled from far and wide to share it with us. It meant a lot, and we love you.

Mrs. McDaniel

Iya la..orang semua sebok cerita pasal raya, and aku sebok pulak cerita hal kawen. Shheeshh. Takpe, asal aku suka. Camnilah kaedahnya kalau aku sangap kena tinggal. Baru la dok berangan hal kawen and rajin menaip di sini. Oh iya, he was back for 3 days, pastu zaasz dia dah travel ke KL smula. I was like, apekahhh?!

Talking about our wedding card ni, toksah cita banyak lah. Aku rasa kad aku lah paling awal gila siap. Bulan June hari tu dah belonggok dalam kotak kat umah oke! That is about 6 mnths before wedding kann? Berdasarkan kata survey bakal pengantin, rata-rata tempah kad 2 months sebelum majlis. Oke, sila kata aku miang bersemangat nak kawen.

Ok lah fine, kad sangat kami berpuas hati, walaupun struggle gila angkut almost 100kg tu merentas negara. Akan tetapi, kat negara seberang tu selalunya kad diorang adalah without envelope. And being sangat confident, kami pun tempah la envelope separately kad Sadiya Invitation itu (still kat kedai sama, just envelope tak termasuk dalam harga kad oke). Taapiii, amatlah tak proper envelopenya sebab ianya tak boleh ditutup! (Purpose tempah envelope ialah utk tujuan pengeposan. Yang takyah pos tu, takyah la envelope kan). Maka, bagaimana nak pos la kann!? (Sila imagine rupa bentuk envelope serta kad itu dalam view 3D oke. Envelope tu 3 ruangan je tutup, yang 1 tu tak tutup)

Maka dengan gigih dan cekal, terpaksalah kami tempah envelope yang lain di sini. Dah malas nak fikir, adui lantakla envelope macam kad raya pun hentamlah labu! So esok gi jumpa kawan kepada En MNI utk tengok envelope yang dia ada. Hoohh leceh kan buat kerja 2-3 kali ni.. Bikin panas je bulan-bulan posa ni. (Dulu masa bulan tak posa takde plak sebok nak cari envelope ni ek)

Cengginilah rupa kad kami. Harus dihitamputih kan sebab warna adalah rahsia. Kuhikkuhik.Simple saja, sebab aku kan plain jane. lalalala~

Past sentence:

1) Esok aku balik KL. Yabeda bedu ! (Remember the pre-wed photoshoot. Ngeehehe) Tapi En MNI dah balik ptg tadi. Sampaikan hati dia tingglkan aku tekontang-kanting di sini. Sob sob.

2) Ada ura-ura seperti baju raya yang aku tempah kat KL tu tak siap. Erghh marah dah aku ni. Haruslah tak vogue nanti di pagi raya kalau tade baju baruu kann?!

3) Jumaat ni patutnya public holiday kat Sarawak kan. Pastu baru Isnin lepas keluar circular, public holiday tu ditunda ke bulan October. Suka-suki dia je nak ubah-ubah tarikh kan? But ada aku kesah? Aku nak cuti gak unless kau baya balik duet flight ticket aku. Kahkahkah.

Okeh jom packing bag. Yes yes makan makan kat KL wekeend ni. Jakun kan aku?

Why is that my feelings say it’s a Friday morning? Tapi bila aku tengok calendar, dang! Baru hari Khamis ke ni. Ergh. Kenapalah masa tidak mencemburui saya dengan berdetik lebih laju lagi?

Had a chat with an old teman last night. As usual, the topic yang digossip mesti tidak lari daripada hal pekahwinan rakan2 and of course my soon-to-be big day. Since I have nobody to talk to menyatakan perasaan becelaru ini (takkan aku suka-suki nak meluah perasaan kat kawan-kawan *oh I treat kawan, sahabat and teman differently oke! I cannot talk to kawan2 on feelings and personal things. Itu hanya boleh diperkatakan kepada teman sahaja. Kawan itu kalau setakat nak kuar mkn2 borak2 kosong and hang out tu, then they are the ones! Kalau nak cerita yang aku gundah gulana sebab Im so used having him around, or nak bebel problem lain, mau aku kena sembur balik. Like apsal kau gedik sangat ni? Hoh. They will never understand.Period* )

Its good to have teman-teman. I don’t like so many temans lah, few would do. But they will always be there for u, no matter during ur ups and downs.

Becerita hal menuju gerbang perkahwinan ni (lama dah oke tak pakai perkataan gerbang ni), betullah orang kata, once you decide nak mendirikan masjid ni, memang pintu rezki tu akan terbukak luas. Tak tipu iya. Ini sangat betul kerana:

• Bila decide nak kawen, aku terus dapat project di Sarawak ni. Don’t ask me how it relates to rezki yang lebih murah, but the thing is, ada lah sikit rezki lebih bila kerja jauh2 ni. Alhamdulillah.
• Ura-ura yang mengatakan company akan bertindak kejam dengan tak memberi bonus adalah tipu belaka! We got a token, even though not as much as before but still, ada lah jugak.Alhamdulillah.
• Dan kerja dan usaha aku yang tak brapa gigih last year diappreciate jugak.Alhamdulillah.

Akan tetapi, there are also sangat banyak dugaan yang mendatang! Ini pun tak tipu oke! Kerana:

• Urusan perkahwinan – Adalah amat susah utk aku uruskan document perkahwinan sebab terjadinya krisis2 dalaman, yang selalu buat aku pening macam nak pecah otak. Sometimes aku mengeluh and menangis sendiri kata – bukanke perkahwinan tu sepatutnya dipermudahkan jalannya sebab kita ni nak mendirikan masjid. Bukan nak buat benda tak baik. But atas kesabaran, pengorbanan bnyk pihak and usaha2 gigih, akhirnya semua selesai.Alhamdulillah.Wooho da bleh kawen dah ni!
• Family – Ni aku refer tu En MNI. Pity him sebab towards the big day, his mom sakit. And of course, apart of the RM that needs to be spent, it also affects our emotions. Aku tau kepala otak dia sangat serabut, dengan kerja yang memang sedia serabut, then banyak perkara lain yang mendatang. But aku memang admire the way he handles problem which is sangat tenang. Aku yang kalau tengah gundah gulana dan menggelupur, bila tengok dia, hati aku memang jadi sejuk.
• Family aku – Pun ada yang tengah sakit jugak. My stepbrother baru lepas operate sebab cancer tulang. Abah spends masa 24-7 in the hospital. Tak kerja dah quite a long period of time. And family aku pun agak kucar-kacir, but luckily he is ok now. Cuma kena follow up dengan kemoterapi (dang aku taktau how the spelling is~)
• Kerja – My critical path would be in December. Masa tu project harus tengah tunggang terbalik. Even though cutiku dah disapprove oleh kedua-dua boss (KL and Miri), but still hati takkan tenang kerana approaching the date, harus ada bnyk uncertainty kan. Boleh je aku ignore hal kerja like lantaklah cuti dah approve.Akan tetapi aku ni kena monitor kerana dipinjamkan seketika kepada company ini. Which means if I don’t perform, mampuslah masa depan aku di company asal.
• Our relationship – Alhamdulillah so far takde masalah yang besar2. Hope we will get through till the big day and ever after. Cuma aku menjadi semakin sensitip skrang. Seresly, aku macam selalu rasa – eee syg ni boleh tak faham perasaan aku ni without me telling u how I feel? Dan aku juga lebih mudah terasa and sulking like a child. Sila jgn guna perkataan childish oke – sebab childish and child-like are totally two different things. Ni aku blaja masa team building hari tu. Hiks.

Itu saja yang aku bleh fikir pada ketika ini. Mugkin ada bnyk lagi but I couldn’t put them into words. The serabutness had gone a little bit now. I feel better today. His mom pun alhamdulillah semakin sihat.

Past sentence:

Childish = act like a fool

Child-like = feel like a child again. In terms of child habit i.e. manja, berani mencuba something new, very eager to learn, mudah belajar yada..yada..yada.

So make sure you act or feel like a child (child-like) not childish because org nyampah kalau kau childish.

After all the ups and downs during the preps, I just realised oh i havent thought on the wedding cake. Gila sangat terlupa macam total memory loss. Erk. And its gonna be a December wedding, and just imagine berapa ramailah org nak kawen pada December. If lambat tempah, konfim kau menaga takde wedding cake. Potong pulut kuning je lah oke?

Maka, teruslah aku called the UmmiBakery nak tempah sesiaplah cake ni kan. And guess what, she takes custom made weddding cake. Aku harus kena hantar gamba wedding cake itu saje, then she’ll do the rest ! Hoho suka. So apa lagi, aku meroyan kejap, browse sana sini carik gamba cake yang vogue d vast lah konon. And came out with these 2!

Yand 2nd cake tu ntah knapa gamba dia setengah je. Tapi kau bayangkanlah dia tu one complete cake oke.

I opted for the 1st one. Tapi En MNI likes the 2nd one. I actually into the 2nd cake as well. Just look at the design, it’s just awesome kan, and the shape pun funky but sweet. Lagipun kek yang 1st tu dah macam biasa sangat. Suma org pun kawen, pakai kek fondant macam tu.

But I have my own reason, why did I go for the 1st one still:

• Baju sanding kami is gonna be black&white. Remember? So aku takleh bayangkan, betapa macam taik cicak nya kalau baju dah hitam putih, and the cake pun carca merba dengan mixture of black, white and red. Haa cuba-cuba kau imagine sekarang?
• To me, kalau baju dah black&white, plus the design of baju sgt exaggerate oke! Ada batu-batu lah bagai, it’s just heavy in design. So kek harus putih suci murni, nampak innocent je kek tu and yet, still sweet. Agree?

And En MNI has to agree with me. Yeay.I seriously suka gila 2nd cake tu, but it just doesnt fit the environment nanti on the W day. Maka terpaksalah korbankan angan2 aku dgn kek itu.

Abes cita kek.

Aku sgt menaga sekarang, sebab we just lost our new brand Sony camera. Aiyo baru pakai 2 kali kot! Darn aku sangat marah and rasa nak maki hamun. Im not fasting, so excuse me lah sapa yang kena maki ngan aku tu. Hoh.( Eh padahal its not mine pun, its En MNI’s. Tapi aku claim tu camera aku, hence the term  ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘ours’ ye. Ekke) Camera itu hilang dalam rumah ye. Aku yang last pakai, but I did not keep it properly. Hari Isnin masih ada atas meja, tapi baru semalam aku sedar dia dah ghaib dari pandangan. Ada 2 possibilities sahaja; it’s either the housekeeping people yang kemas umah hari-hari, or the workers yang dtg fix the ceiling last Monday. (Yaaa tak baik menuduh di bulan ramadhan, but aku tgh marah skrang. I knnnoowww it! Mana ada org lain kuar masuk umah ni weh!)

Aku dah report kat management. Sape yang hamik camera tu, aku doakan kau kena langgar. Yaa aku kejam, but i dont freaking care. Sapa suruh kau panjang tangan di bulan posa ni. Sumpah kau jahat oke!

Tertekan lagi hari ni.

Selamat berpuasa pada hari ke-7. Dan aku dengan jayanya baru posa 2 hari.Huks.

Sebab hari ni ialah hari jumaat, dan this weekend is gonna be a long one, harus aku ada perasaan malas sekarang. Damn skrng baru pukol 9.19 pagi. Lambat lagi pukol 4.30pm. Erk.

Apa-apalah.

Tengah aku buat-buat sibuk siapkan kerja, report yang cam nyampah je nak tulis ni, tiba-tiba teringat plak perihal baju nikah aku. Kain baju nikah tu dah dibeli sebagai hantaran on our engagement. Punyalah aku nak sangat memakai border chiffon, dengan harapan akan nampak kurus, solid dan slender. Wah. Kerana kain chiffon ni bila pakai, dia akan berat dan jatuh, maka membuat si pemakai nampak langsing. Wah lagi skali. Hiks.

Kain chiffon tu beli kat Euro Moda je. And murah je pun, RM148 semeter kalau tak silap. Masa tu pegi ngan En MNI lah, and faham-faham saje lah yang aku takmo lah berlama-lamaan dalam kedai tu. Kang chenta hatiku cam cacing kepanasan.

At that time, I had no idea on how the design would be. Without fikir panjang, aku rembat sahaja 2 meter chiffon and 2 meter satin. Konon baju je pakai chiffon, then kain pakai satin. Org kedai tu pun satu hal, bukan nak bagi buah fikiran yang bernas tentang design, kain apa patut pakai yada yada yada. Aku dah ban sales girl tu.

Bila balik umah, tunjuk kain kat hsemate, memang suma kata cantik. Tapi kalau buat baju je chiffon, then kain satin, memang sahih burok! (Apsal aku tak terfikir pun pasal benda ni masa kat kedai heh? Sengut ok aku). Maka keesokan harinya, I went back to Euro Moda, nak beli lagi 2 meters. Aku tak bawak pun kain yang beli semalam tu, dengan harapan aku nak carik balik salesgirl tu. Confirm dia igt aku beli kain mana kan.

Oke, dah jumpa salesgirl yg aku ban tu, dia pun potonglah kain tu lagi 2 meter. Aku pun balik umah dengan happy!

Not until last week, when I found out kain aku 2 meter kaler putih, lagi 2 meter kaler off white. Oh sakitnya hatiku. Baju dah tempah, tinggal nak fitting.Pekejadahnya?!

Nampak kan kaler lain2. Eee aku rasa cam nak baker je rambut salesgirl tu. Dia confident gila kata kain tu sama. Samalah sangat. Infact beads kat border chiffon tu pun lain-lain design dia. So aku pakai baju beads lain, then kain beads lain lah? Oh macam sarkas tak rupanya?

Tertekan.

I think it’s completely untrue when they say that Ramadhan gets easier as you grow older. I don’t think it gets easier. No, it gets much, much harder. I’m more tired than I was last year, a lot weaker and hungrier.

You know you’re not going to collapse since you’ve done it, oh, for the past nineteen years.

But I’m only twenty-something, I wonder how much harder it can get.

Keeping the faith, keeping the faith.

***

I am, once again, losing interest in my wedding prep. Do people go through this? I find so many blogs where girls practically dedicate their entire living being to their wedding – on the other hand, I find wedding planning a tedious process.

The process goes something like this. Finding something you like “Oooh! That’s nice! I want!” and then dealing with vendors: “Yes, the pelamin of your choice is only RM 15,000, isn’t it a bargain?” and then, of course, my all-time favourite part of dealing with vendors: “Can I have a quotation?” to which leads to the inevitable chase down a labyrinth of no-replies and calls after calls after calls where they say something vaguely like ‘Yah…I’ll come back to you. Tomorrow. I promise.’ To which they don’t. ‘

One crazy chick asked me to put a deposit down first BEFORE giving me a quotation.

Am I being passive aggressive for complaining here? Yes, probably. But honestly, I have no idea what these vendors are up to. I know my wedding is about nine months away – yes, it’s AGES away in comparison to your average Malaysian wedding, but there is a reason why we’re planning it way in advance.

IT’S BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO PANIC AT THE LAST MOMENT. WHICH, IF YOU’VE READ THE COUNTLESS OF HORROR STORIES ON MALAYSIAN BLOGS FROM BADLY DONE DRESSES TO VENDORS NOT TURNING UP ON THE DAY ITSELF, SAYS SOMETHING.

And no. RM 15,000 is not okay for your hideous design.

So the shenanigans of our wedding vendors have left me unimpressed with the entire wedding industry in total. I am rather happy that you’re intended to only marry once – because wedding planning is far too stressful when you’re dealing with nitwits who can’t even do a proper quotation or reply to your emails without making all sorts of excuses and ending their emails with a ‘Sorry for the inconvenient’

I think the smiles on the bride’s wedding day is mostly attributed to ‘Thank God, this stupid thing is over.’ Tell you what, it’s easier to do a play in 3 months than to plan a wedding period. Of course, it would be easier if I only wanted a cookie cutter wedding which silly me, is not what I want.

Dang, if only I had RM 100,000 to spare (which is the only sum that most vendors are only interested to hear and work on) and all of this would not be a problem.

So, no. I am not enjoying the process. I am finding it tedious, irritating and am this close to eloping.

To all the other Malaysian brides out there, do yourself a favour. Either have very rich parents OR do it outside the country.

***

Okay, so I’m in a bad mood. I think it’s because my birthday is coming up. I hate to be a cliche and stereotypical but when it comes to birthdays, I’m like one of those moody people they show on TV series and write about in novels. The ones that sort of is a killjoy, or grumps away till late at night until their love interest sort of pops up with a cake and a single sparkly candle. And then they kiss. All is well. How sweet.

Anyway.

Birthdays are not fun. Why? Because somewhere along the way I’ve associated birthdays with a time to reflect on the things I’ve not done with my life. I know. What a joyous way of celebrating.

Plus, it makes me all melancholy. All my closest friends are not here – they’re spread in different parts of the world. They don’t forget – thankfully – but it makes me feel all the more lonely, it’s the time of the year where I remember that the people I care about very much are not here with me physically.

Ah, 30th August, be here and let’s get that day over and done with.

Having said that, you know what can make me very happy on that day? David Tennant. So. Mr. Tennant, if you’re listening, would you do the kind thing and pop over down to Malaysia and say hi to me? Not much to ask for. You can then pop over to Langkawi and stay at the lovely Datai or Tanjung Rhu. Very romantic.

With me of course.

Lagi perihal perkahwinan yang berlaku baru-baru ini.

 Kan I was on a long so called holidays for the past 2 weeks. I attended my KL department team building, which was oh sangat best tak terperi! The pics are yet to be uploaded. Kami ada gala dinner yang super happening. Oh bukan itu motif entry kali ini ye.

 Memandangkan the team building was held in Melaka, maka weekend itu aku menghabiskan hari cuti di ruman bakal mentua. Dah macam 2^nd house pun umah mereka, sampaikan mama selalu sound aku, kata aku takmo balik JB sebab asyik balik Melaka. Apekah? Saya bukan anak durhaka tau ma.. Huuuhu. Dua-dua pun aku mesti balik, kalau aku balik semenanjung.

 Oh bukan itu jugak motif entry ini.

 Nak dijadikan cerita, hari Ahad ssebelum both of us went back to Miri (flight pukul 840pm), kami gi jalan-jalan ke Dataran Pahlawan. Dalam kepala otak aku mmg dah set nak beli jam baru. Reason: saja nak treat diri sendiri memandangkan ada rezki lebih dari company bulan ini.

 So kacinnggg. Dah beli jam baru. Yeay! Di samping itu dapat free make over, and photoshoot and dapat 1 print gamba photo shoot sebab spent more than a certain amount kat Makhkota Parade itu.

Maka kami balik dengan riang gembira lah. Aku la suka, dapat free make over, set rambut free. Haa I loike!

 Tengah siap-siap nak gi airport tu, aku dengan spontan nya cakap kat bakal MIL,‘makcik, boleh tak saya nak amik balik make up set yg sepatunya jadik hantaran kawen tu. Saya rasa nak pakai raya lah’ Hooho. (Oh suma brg hantaran dah ada kat rumah Melaka).

Maka dah selamat lah aku pakai set make up ni yang sepatutnya jadik hantaran kawen. LOL. Aku siap bagi jam yang aku beli tu sebagai replacement set make up tu. Apekah? Aku meroyan pada ketika itu (sebab baru lps make over kan), miang aku nak pakai set make up baru. Hamikkk. Adakah perlu beli make-up set baru utk hantaran nanti? Entah la aku tidah tahu. En MNI hanya menggeleng kepala tgk aku bawak set make up baru hand carry oke, balik ke Miri. Haaha.

Memacam hal betul bila dah counting days ni kan. Hiks. Ada lagi cerita yg tak masuk dek akal di ketika saat getir 3 months sebelum wedding ni. Nenantilah aku cita.

 Apa nak mkn buka posa hari ni heh?

We never think of taking pre-wedding photo before, because there are hell lots of other things to be thought of. Not until I saw these pre-wedding photo snaps.

Arghh.. Dan seperti biasa, aku ni mmg mudah teruja. Lalu aku trus called our official wedding photographer kata ‘aku nak pre-wed photo shoot jugak!’ Ehhe. (Ignore the quality of the photo above. Sebab Aku explore je and jumpa gamba ni. Then nak save takleh sebab dia kat dalam flickr. Maka aku print screen, abes cita. Hiks).

So there we go. Disebabkan tade masa lain yang aku dan En MNI available di KL, kami terpaksa agree utk buat time bulan posa jugak. Apekah? Huuu. Kami tak balik KL dah pasni. Last balik KL time bulan posa je.

I think I have valid reasons why this pre-wedding is necessary. Haruslah ada valid reasons, if not camne nak convince En MNI tuh. Kang dia takmo, pastu aku amik gamba tunggang tebalik sorang-sorang lah?

• Kami dah naik muak ngan gamba yg nak letak kat banner, bunting, kad, door gift sticker – suma sama! The exact same photo oke. Oh takmo. At least letak gamba lain-lain kat banner and bunting.
• Masa tunang, tak banyak pun gamba kitorang bedua. Ada 2..3.. 7 keping je kot. Yang lain suma gamba aku syok sendiri sorang2. Suma sebab En MNI nak balik cepat sebab nak gi Ayer Itam shopping. Ohh aku agak tebakar pada ketika itu. Hiks.
• Photographer tu bagi harga murah. So takde reason utk berkata TIDAK. Heehe.

But tak tau lagi nak wat gamba camner. Casual pakai jeans je ke? or macam ala-ala org dolu2 cam gambo kat ats tu ke? Or gamba gedik sket bley pakai baju over-over ke. Hurmm. Lokasipun belum decide lagi. Ntah, takde idea lagi.

Dan selamat menjalani ibadah puasa oke! Moga2 semua akan mendapat keberkatan

Past Sentence: Aku posa kat Miri this year. Apelahh nak makan dey? Aku nak rojak sedapp dan air kathira!

OMG…..it happened. I’m officially someone else. Someone new…..a Newman to be exact. Or more fitting would be a New(wo)man. Hardee-har-har.

But seriously. It’s happened. I’m married. I’m now officially and legally a part of something bigger, something better, something special, and I get a tax break too! What could be better than that? Chocolate fudge cake with molten lava fudge sauce? Maybe.

I want to show you a photo of us. And I will be posting more blissful emotions later. But this is just an update that I’m officially a Newman. Awesome!