Big Ticket Items Checked

The innate need to have a perfect home VS The actual amount we have to spend Round 1

The war above is not really much of a match. The man and I both have good knowledges about interiors, I am more into the looks while he is very much picky about the finishing quality = big hole in the pocket. To start off with, our haven is at least twice as expensive as that of our peers if not 3 times more. That we rationalise with a "its a nice estate and we want a place we look forward to going back"

We have also made the purchases for the big ticket items and tsk tsk tsk, we have outdone our peers again. Its not about being arrogant, honestly when I am at their homes, I do find their homes nice but somehow when we do the shopping, everything and anything that catches my fancy costs a bomb.

items bought so far:
Sofa custom made by Sanctuary Dian $2165, inspired by Minotti (from a reliable survey, other people have spend less then $1000)

Mattress from Simmons $1515 from Courts on promo (the initial model that we wanted cost $3500 even with a big promo so yes for this we have tried to compromise thought from the same reliable survey, most of the people I know are sleeping on mattresses that cost below $500, kua kua kua)

Samsung LCD 37" at Harvey Norman Expo Sale (HNES) $1999 with free sound system and DVD player (this was a wonderful buy. when we first started looking it cost like $2500)

Draco HD Box Set $299 buy with purchase promo at HNES, usual price $599

Samsung 2Dr Sidebyside Refrigerator at HNES $899, the titanium colored one was gorgeous but the white was $100 cheaper and really the color does not affect the performance. (sponsored by the man's mum)

Samsung frontload washing machine HNES $599, 7.5kg with adjustable RPM up to 1000RPM, design not the best as the loader is really just above the floor which means i have to almost sit on the floor to load it. The man promise to buy a stool hahaha. (sponsored by my mummy)

Pics shall be posted when items are delivered and in their places. *wink*

Now there are more things to clear:
1. Contractor confirmation for feature walls and ceiling
2. Other appliances (vacuum, oven, fan, etc)
3. Bed Frame, Coffee Table, Dining Table/Chairs, Rug.....
4. Decal for feature
5. Painting for sofa wall
6. Buying lights (most dreaded!)
7. Walk in Wardrobe system

Jia You!!!!

We are going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

Finally .... after months of talking about it!

Started out to pick the 2 cousins of the man in heavy rain! When we got nearer to the zoo the sky cleared and we were glad! it was pretty fun to go with little MM and her not so little but extremely cheeky bro WY. MM and I would often run ahead of the boys as the man was too old at heart to feel really enthu about this *haha* as we stopped for lunch it started to rain again....=(

someone naughty spoiled my kipling gorilla but didn't want to admit it....no problem actually but i just wanted to teased them about it and see them deny it with such good skills haha. the fun part actually began with the rain when you are with 2 chipmunks. They played with the plastic rain coats, got wet and I had to chase WY around for pulling the branches on me.....MM warmed up to me pretty quickly despite the man saying that she seldoms does that, maybe she felt my "young" heart =P

Next trip? Jurong Bird Park....and darling this time its not just me who will pester you but the added power of MM shall assist.

Draft Layout

UPDATED!

after searching and searching for a program online I found it! so here is for a first time the initial layout we have in mind though not drawn to scale as we do not have the dimensions yet....TADAH

picture is not very clear here but in the program i can even count how many shirts there are hanging on the rod in the walk in wardrobe. hee hee they even have a mini which i inserted for fun....lalalala

Update:
went by last afternoon and hassled the ah nehs there to let us go up for a look and some measurements. =) and we decided to change the layout as below to maximise the living space. went again to expo fair and got some good ideas for the shoe cabinet. BOUGHT our first purchases too all from Samsung from the Harvey Norman Sales...37" LCD, HD box, washing machine and fridge...total damage: S$3800.00 approx. Not too bad we are making progress!

2nd draft:

Haven Update

the past few days have been crazy. a mad flurry of documents to sign, more number crunching, bank loan shopping and talks with the folks. We visited the Expo home and decor fair, Greatworld furn shops, Best Denki and humogous Ikea at Tampines to work out the sums for funishing and appliances.

the man finally had lunch with my fam last sunday at Jumbo Riverside Point. The lunch went fine, mum's comment was "too thin" haha. I then gently introduce the idea that we are looking at property to the folks and the past few nights mum has been badgering me with questions and concerns. I do not blame her but I am glad that she and my dad are slowly accepting the idea =)

We have as good idea how we want the Haven to look like. Clean, gray theme with some cosy touches. Although we do not need to do up much since the apartment has the basic of flooring, air-con, toilets, stove, appliances and furniture does work out to be a sizable amount. The only reno bit will be the feature wall, false ceiling and down lights, blinds, grille and pulley clothes hanger for the yard and a good lock for the main door. This again adds on the the $$$ to be spent. However as we move along things are falling into place nicely and i am feeling slightly relieved.

His folks have been real supportive too. His mum has agreed to sponsor the refrigerator hee hee. My friends have been real nice too giving ideas and contacts for better priced items and feeling the excitment for us.

I actually feel quite nervous and excited. One step at a time but we will get there SOON! now if only the 4D answer our prayers.....

The Milestone

WE GOT THE PLACE!!!!

the deal is sealed. we have signed our first property together on 25th September 2007, lunar 8 月15 at about 11pm. What an auspicious date to have it signed on the mid autumn festival day =) Presenting OUR HAVEN:

Located a few units away from our initial choice in the entry earlier but this is brand new from developer and it has a lap pool, gym and roof garden. Darling can swim while I do the treadmill above =) The estate is quiet, we have viewed it during the day and also after dusk. Not really accessible but that adds to the tranquility. WE LOVE IT!

oads of $$$$ crunching to do and settle but we are on our way to building our haven together! this is too exciting hee hee....expect loads of progress pics once everything is finalised. ^o^

Home Sweet Home *Gasp*

THE place has been sighted and i am keeping my fingers crossed!

for my darling to see the color scheme that i like =) and below some nice designs for consideration

I like clean uncluttered look so careful planning for storage is important. Place to go take a look: Howard Storage World at Parkway Parade Basement:

this is so exciting, God please bless us with the haven we wanna build together and let us pull this deal thru!

random oops!

Him: your hubby me is ....er i mean boyfriend

*winkz* hee hee......

Home Sweet Home

Our"Sunny" Estate =D

We had an enjoyable time last evening checking out the various apartments in Siglap, Kembagan and Telok Kurau. We both envision a place that we will love going back to everyday, a place we can call home cos its truly comfy, serene and cosy too.

I like having a patio and a full glass one at that. It need not be hugh, something just big enough for 2 chairs will do nicely. He likes quiet neighborhood and also a patio too so he can just chill and unwind. We spotted several nice apartments. Some had amenities like pool, BBQ pits while others were just simple pte apartments but with a nice design and quiet neighborhood. Each compound had about 5-20 units. We saw one we really liked ALOT.

I can so picture us washing the car like we did this arvo AND probably washing doggy at the same time =) never enjoyed car washing this much before heh!

This is probably the biggest purchase decision we need more research, can't wait to go window shopping literally this weekend at some other plausible areas.....

cool chairs link for reference

random incident

we were having dinner along east coast road and after dinner the man who parked illegally behind our car had to stop eating half way to shift his car so that our illegally parked car could exit. He was eating the last available place of the yummy hokkien prawn noodles by the way. So anyway as he was shifting the car, the stall person cleared his plate of half eaten noodles! OMG i could so see the stunned look on this face as he looked at the empty table approximately 1 min after he left his seat.....poor man....
Mood: hopeful

the art of cob-web cultivation

its almost 11pm and while i could have left at 6pm, i am now sitting in a stuffy office with no air-conditioning since 6pm...noisy too as there are maybe 6 ah nehs outside painting the walls and yeah getting to that, the whiff of paint aint too nice.

all because he is still at work and i wanted to see him for measly 5mins during the ride home. done it before and will do it again. ain't the smartest girl at the end of the day am i? the silly things love makes one do.

Pitter Patter Pitter

the man is away on biz to Bahrain and Dubai. 9 days....the first Sunday was already unbearable how should I survive the coming weekend?

Some femme friends i know are always happy when their men are away. They will call gleefully and ask for nights out or some other ways to celebrate what they call "vacation time" of freedom. I pondered over this but i realised I cannot bring myself to be happy. End of the day, i still enjoy the company of my man the most.

its raining almost daily and somehow the grayness outside makes me miss my darling more. I even have problem falling asleep...this is bad...need to tweak this mood. He will be away almost every month so if this continues I will wilt...

On a up note, we have registered for the Mini Makansutra! Will post the events pic after the race!

random klutzy conversation

Him: Where are you darling
Her: I am bringing the car for a walk
Him: *kua kua kua* you think the car is a dog?

hee hee

Meaningful Quotes

Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming
1. Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
2. Whenever you're right, shut up.

The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once...

Don't make a promise when u are in joy
Don't reply when you are sad
Don't make a decision when you are angry
Think twice Act wise

We make them cry who care for us
We cry for those who never cared for us
We care for those who will never cry for us
Strange but how true...

DON"T MAKE SOMEONE YOUR PRIORITY IN LIFE
WHEN YOU ARE JUST AN OPTION IN THEIR LIFE
Relationships work best in balance

Staying Upbeat

Like all couples, we have our share of arguements and fights. It never fails to amaze me though how quickly we will recover from such sagas and how at the end of the day, we still find our way back into each other's arms.


I know of couples who will have days or even weeks of cold war. Ours never last longer then a day. I just want my darling to know that I do treasure our special bond, how we always are on the same wave length and thinking of the same thing at the same time. I also appreciate how he will try to solve things and progress on. Every couple has differences and I think we are working out all the kinks and soon all will be smooth sailing *wink*

Every morning I would want to jump into the car and greet you with my cheerful Good Morning the way I always do. But the fear of refusal and rejection holds me back. NOW i have decided to be brave and thick-skin. Even if you shall frown, i shall drown you with my cheerfulness and you will have no choice but to be cheerful too! haha yeah the old dua baby will launch this mission now!

Ready, Get Set, GO!

random klutzy conversation

i have a knack for asking the wierdest questions:

Will you mop the floor when i am cooking in future?
Ya of cos....

闭上眼睛

是否闭上眼睛就能够看得更清楚？

不要被眼前的一切扰乱你的感觉。心里很想表现爱意旦脑子要你逞强，不许太依赖他的爱，不许表现得太需要他。深爱对方的我们绕了15年的圈子被缘分连在一起了。有多少人像我们如此幸运，找回童年的恋情? 恋爱不许伪装， 容不下谎言，不需隐瞒，不要骄傲。

我们无所不谈，繁忙的工作了一天不管有多累有多烦，只要能和对方聊聊天，把一天的闷气诉说， 并能觉得愉快。简简单单的拥抱，不需语言便能让我们感觉满足。

但应为臭味相同，坏脾气的我俩也会起纠纷。能在火山爆发前， 深深吸口气，把难听的句子吞回肚子里，不就好了吗？不珍惜便会造成可惜哦！

大家一起来深呼吸吧！

Happy 42nd !

Failing to get tickets to watch the actual parade despite using all my fam and the man's NRICs to ballot was quite disappointing esp since it is the first time it is held at marina on a floating stage no less and the fact that i have missed 2 parades already while in Shanghai.


however, the man really wanted to watch the fireworks and so we charged down to MS and edged our way among the crowd (singaporeans are patriotic lot i say) and saw this:

haha ok we did not actually see this above all the heads but you get the gist!

random klutzy conversation:

in the basement carpark
Him: hey whats that booming dun tell me the fireworks have started!
Her: my dear its still bright day lights cannot be
Him: no meh? then what!
Her: using my small toe to think, its the canons
Him: oh ya hor

UPDATE PART 2

We did it again....this time for the Singapore Fireworks Celebrations on Saturday. Expecting a great crowd, we arrive at about 6.30pm in MS but we lost to the awesome Kiasu others who were already all sitting and refusing to budge from their seats at the food court which had a good view.

Famished, we decided it was not crucial to catch the fireworks but impt to satisfy our hunger first. However as it always does for us (blessed we are as always) the timing was just right after we finish our dinner at Spageddies and the spot right outside the restaurant had a good view with decent space for us to stand (not as packed as it was during the NDP fireworks). The fireworks were amazing, much better then the earlier show.

We proceeded to watch Borne Ultimatum before calling it a night. Sunday was FUN, tennis was good, we had a good work-out and a good drill that had us practicing our serves. We managed to improve on rallying with Norris too. Well done darling, i think you played well!

Cleaning the car to many may seem drape and mundane, but although it was tiring, i enjoyed it simply because it is our car and we were cleaning it together....erm on second thoughts, I was cleaning he was using his bionic superpowered eyes to look at everything and probably warming down from tennis by walkiing round and round the mini....

mini trip coming up and I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

Mega Hint

Best way to start a day

Waking up in your arms

The best way to start a day is to wake up in his arms. i love the feeling of waking up tucked nicely next to him with my head on his chest and his arms around me. then as i struggle to peel my eyes open, the first thing i see is him smiling at me. this makes me close my eyes again promptly and snuggle up even closer as i try to cherish the last few minutes before we have to get up.

i remember him telling me that he likes the way i look in the mornings and i do so like him to be the first thing i see when i open my eyes too. i like he way he will grope around in the middle of the night should we have shifted positions just so to pull me back into his arms. natural instinct? heh heh.

i could really get use to this.

The King And I

Esplanade Theatre - Opening Night 6th Aug 2007 Seats BB49-50

the musical was okay....first time he is watching one and i would think starting him off on les miserables would have been a better idea but alas this was the only musical thus far. story line wise, i much preferred Anna and the King starring Chow Yun Fatt. This version was skimpy and while the king did a good job delivering effectively funny punchlines that had us all laughing, I thought Anna's character was pretty weak. The costumes were not elaborate and the backdrop pretty simple. What i could not really grasp was the almost 20mins of nonsensical dancing, supposedly the skit that was performed to the visiting English diplomat. luckily there was a 20% discount for UOB cards and i only paid $242 instead of $300. the next one should be better, so keep the interest dearie.

Clean and Gleam

Sunday arvo was spent cleaning the vehicle. We cleaned the interior and applied the anti-rain protection coat. Hard work but all worth it when we sat in the car and it seems there was no glass at all cos it was that clean!

it was the first time he spent so much time grooming a car by himself but i could tell he enjoyed it too as it is OUR car so WE should take care of it =) now for past due peektures of the car....hopefully can get some this weekend.

laughs of the day:

Her: (pointing at some random passerbys) look at that group of indians what are they doing
Him: (turned and look) huh?
Her: look! there are more and more of them!
oops caught red-handed the 2nd round trying to steal his honeydew sago with ice cream...haha

The French Stall

foie gras, grilled lamb chops and pork loin cordon bleu

when he called last night i had a craving for foie gras. given the alternative between Le Bistrot which i have been dying to try but costs more and The French Stall which serves french cuisine kopitiam style, the man chose of cos the latter as he deem weekday meals should not be too fancy....dang but it turned out really worth the trip to 544 Serangoon Road.

the place was still pretty crowded at 9pm. the man is very cheena in his choice of food so it has really been a pretty long while since we had anything other then chicken rice, bak kut teh, chang cheng porridge or char kway teow. the foie gras cost $18.80 but it was divine! the lamb chop was really tender although i asked for well done and his pork loin was so mushroomy it blew me away too. i have to go back there soon!

p/s: but to make a good comparison dear, perhaps we should visit Le Bistrot too *winks*

man's love

he says relationships depend on 3 main factors: love (of cos the basic foundation), communication and common interests/believes.

with love comes about what we have always refered to as "tolerance level". this term was coined when we were just pals as we realise there are some people whom we just cannot stand no matter how sweet they try to be, everything they do just irritate the daylight out of us = low tolerance....conversely there are those that we will give in too, make excuses for their bad behavior and accept them = high tolerance. the above 2 categories of people can do the same thing but get different reactions from us. WE happen to have the highest tolerance level possible for each other....yes dear, u do irritate me and so do i to u but heng ah our tolerance ratings are sky high =)

there are people who just have nothing to say to each other and then there are people who are selective about who they talk to and there are chatterboxes like me who just can't stop yakking. he happens to be a very private person but with me he claims, he has revealed so many things and he is also starting to like relating his daily incidences to me. we are also able to tell each other frankly what we want, what are our visions and really understand each other's points of view.

on interest, we probably do not have alot of common interests to begin with. but as we grow together, we learn together and are picking up common activities that we both enjoy. i think that is more important then having ready common interests as those may be a phase and die out but having the same frequency and being able to like the same new things, that's critical. we share alot of common believes such as family values (we both have extremely strict folks and we love kids), working ethics (damn the politic racking people), visions of the future and some intrinsic believes.

he really thinks its rare that we can find each other and match in all the 3 factors that he deems as important. hmmm...food for thought...let me chew on this first.

Love can be Simple

there are small little quirks about us that are so sweet to me.

totally random thoughts:

- i like the way we remind each other to stay focus on the final goals like asking "do u really need another pair of shoes?" which the other will take it simply and say "ya hor, no need" of cos there are exceptions especially if it is a pair that you have been eyeing for months and find it on sale AND it happens to be the most comfy and reputable shoe maker *wink wink*

- i like the way you insist we must kiss good night on the phone

- i like the way you will come to pick me up and send me home when i am out with my friends

- i like the way you will hug me and laugh good naturely whenever i tease you about something which you know you are guilty of (rem the flowers in the lift haha)

- i like the way you will reach out to hold my hand whenever and whereever

- i like short and random kisses on the cheeks....awwww so sweet hehe

- i like the way we can totally be real and ourselves and just fool around if we want cos we are so comfortable with each other

- i like the way you laugh with me and the way you make me laugh

- i like the way you love me

random klutzy conversation:

darling the airport ceiling looks different hor?how can it be when i just came to surprise you 2 weeks ago?
my dear you are in T2 not T1....