Three Weddings

This is the wedding post!! I've done a couple of wedding posts previously, about a friend's wedding, marriage proposal, wedding bouquets, and wedding montage! And some other related wedding posts which don't seem relevant here. Oh well, I don't even know whose wedding montage it was. Should be something I grabbed from Youtube because my friend shared it with us back then when she was prepping her wedding.

Let's see, I've been asked on when I would be back since early this year because this year seems to be a season to be married or to start a new relationship!! Haha. Minus me of course. Let's see, I missed at least three weddings, or maybe four (or five?) since September 2012 when I flew off to UK. I got three unofficial wedding invitations right now waiting for me to decide if I can make it... I have Amy's wedding on 31 Aug in KL, Sharon's wedding reception on 21 Sep in Singapore and Jess/Ray's wedding on 28 Sep in KK. At least I have successfully attended ONE wedding - Gosia/Tomek's wedding in Tarnow, Poland (Photo below).

Ohhh... I'm so excited for all of you!!! I wish I could be nearer to share the fun of prepping, and help to de-stress the bride-to-be. But God is in control of my life, and yours. So, chillax when you get cranky with all these details you have to face.

There might be fear, worries of tomorrow, and family pressure. Just be YOU, dears. You gonna do alright. What matters most is the moment when you walk down the aisle and knowing you're going to marry the right man. Whatever else, dump it aside. So, the best thing to do is to spend tonnes of time with the utimate GUY up there. God will open doors He has planned for you, and He will close those which are not good. So, since God has opened the door for both you and your him, He will make sure you walk down the aisle, dazzling with joy.

One thing which many brides overlooked is caring for your skin prior to your weddings. You may be on diet, working out, learning up your first dance, choosing the right music for wedding reception and mass, dress-fitting, guest list and table arrangement, flowers, manicure, pre-wedding photo shooting, wedding gifts, house decoration, renovation of your parents' houses, beddings, honeymoons, shoes, etc. You name it, and it is there! But one biggie you might miss out is REST. Yes, a pretty bride is a bride whose complexion is good, so that the makeup (which will be thicker) will be one with your face, and not like a "V for Vendetta" mask. So, get lots of sleep and beauty treatment. Over-caring for skin may not be a good thing, so DON'T sleep with your hydration mask on. If you do have some extra cash, go to a beautician, get advice and do monthly treatment. There are still around two months for you to get all that done. And oh... Bring the groom-to-be for skin treatment too. They are as stressed out as you are. So a proper massage or a facial won't kill their masculinity!

Remember, you DO have a maid of honor, and your family to fall back to. So don't be shy to get them to help you with things. I know we, girls, want this special (extra special) day to be extremely perfect. My married friends would say, no matter how you tried, it'll never  be perfect. And they would laugh at all the hiccups during the wedding. But just be sure you don't get Patrick Demsey-ish version of MoH or you might end up a runaway bride.

Wedding in Poland

It was an honour indeed that my Polish friend, Gosia, invited me to her wedding last weekend. In fact, the moment of knowing her in Igreja Corpo Santo, Lisbon, right after her engagement was a gift from God.

This trip brought out two extremes of emotions - the somber mood in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and the joyful experience of Polish wedding celebration.

Friday, 28th June 2013
I was with two Couchsurfers, Magda from Poland and Adam from Australia, on this visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. It was a very somber trip, with the drizzle adding to the ambiance. What hit me most is how human beings could be so cruel towards another race, just because they were taught of the superiority of their own race. Basic morality was nullified in the concentration camps. Indeed, where was the love? I was completely in awe when I passed by the starvation cell where St. Maximillian Kolbe was kept for two weeks without water and food, yet remained alive and then killed by lethal injection. Never had I thought I'd be visiting the place where a martyr of the Church was murdered. His life story was one of the few autobiographies of the saints of the Church which I read, without knowing that one day I'd stand outside the cell where he once lived and died. The tour brought us not only to Auschwitz but also to Birkenau, where there were remnants of larger and more "sophisticated" gas chambers as well as the camp itself. Some parts were destroyed, some remained standing as a history lesson to all who know about the Holocaust during World War II against the Jews. My heart breaks for all the souls who were lost in this period of time, and their surviving family members.

This was placed at the entrance of the gas chamber in Auschwitz concentration camp.

The road in Birkenau camp.

Saturday, 29th June 2013
On the other hand, my main objective of visiting Poland for the second time was to attend the wedding of Gosia and Tomek in Tarnow. I met up with her friends (after falling at the pavement and scrapped my knees) and went to Tarnow on 29th June to attend their wedding mass in church at 2 pm. After the wedding, we were all gathered in Hotel Marion for the traditional Polish wedding reception. I was seated with her hometown friends, Ulka and gang. The truth is I was actually in pain almost the whole time due to the scrapped knees and slightly twisted ankle. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed the 12-hour celebration (4 pm to 4 am) which consisted of eating, drinking and dancing. I had the opportunity to practically try all the traditional Polish cuisines for wedding, drank few shots of vodka and danced a lot with everybody. These three things were beyond the boundaries of language. By the time I got home with Ulka and rested, it was 5.30 am. The birds were chirping and the sun was up.

Gosia and Tomek in the church walking down the aisle as husband and wife.

Gosia looking at Tomek cleaning the broken glass. One of the traditions in Polish wedding is the wedded couple would drink champagne from glasses tied together with a ribbon and then throw the glasses behind them. I'm not sure if the "cleaning up" part is part of it. But it was really adorable.

Gosia and Tomek picked me up from Ulka's place after midday on Sunday and I spent the afternoon in Gosia's family home, attended Sunday mass with them and Gosia's bro-in-law, and had supper of zurek (traditional Polish soup) with bread, and finally they sent me to Krakow on their way back to Katowice. I was honoured to be a part of their lives and be invited to witness this sacred moment of their lives.

May God be their Guide in their lives as married couple from now until the end. Amen!

A Wedding Montage (Youtube)

My friend who is getting married posted this youtube video on her FB and I took this opportunity to share with you all here... I think it is a beautiful montage, and it is personally touching - I don't know the story behind all the tears the bride shed, but it must have been something beautiful for her. And I hope you guys also can share that trickle of joy too. I love sharing joys...

Will You Marry Me?

Haha! I wanted to post a blog entry on Proposals (and my dream proposal) but eventually Joanne talked me out of it as the outcome of our conversation pointed out that the man would have to figure out on the proposal part. Hehe!

Recently I have a couple of friends who had just gone to Bandung for a vacation. The outcome of the vacation: They are getting engaged!!!! Yes, the man knelt down and popped THE question of "Will you marry me?" and the lady beamed and answered "YES!" Hence the "craze" of proposals popped into my pea-sized brain. *chucklez*

Well, I was googling proposal stories, but I have to admit the uniqueness of the stories may not be exactly my cup of tea. But this story which I copied from About.com: Weddings is kinda sweet surprise sort of story. I believe the man in the story really has a creative brain, or should I say, used the creative side of his brain to think for the whole proposal event. Here's the story!

Dan and I had met several times before. We always had interesting, in-depth conversations about our favorite football teams (Packers for me, Bears for him), growing up in our respective cities and whatever else was on our mind. Dan was like that with everyone. However, on New Year’s I noticed something different in Dan. Maybe it was because we ran into each other more this night than any other, or because he spent more time talking to me than his friends. Whatever the reason, I’m thankful for it.

For the next three months Dan chased me. He called, emailed and asked my girlfriends about me. Because I lived in Milwaukee and he lived in Chicago we had to take baby steps. Our distance forced us to establish a strong friendship first- another blessing in disguise. For three and a half years we drove back and forth between Chicago and Milwaukee every other weekend. Neither of us took life too seriously then. We were both young and eager to experience as much as possible in life. After a while, the traveling and the scene we were in grew tiresome. We desperately needed a change, not necessarily in our relationship but in our lives. We wanted to get out of the Midwest and start over on a bigger experience.

He was given a coaching opportunity in Arizona and decided he was going with or without me. About a month later I still hadn’t given up on moving out of Milwaukee, or on my relationship. Dan hadn’t given up on us either, so I moved to Arizona. For the first time, we lived in the same state. Going from a long distance relationship to a day-to-day one was an adjustment. We had to start over and discover one another’s daily habits, routines, and quirks.

A year later we took two more leaps of faith and bought a house, and then a puppy. Everything was heading in the right direction, however, I handled our financing so I knew a ring and wedding was going to stay on my wishlist for a while.

A few weeks ago, a girlfriend insisted that I take Friday off to go out on the lake with her. Her company was shooting a commercial and needed extra people. I asked Dan to come, but he had made plans to go on a bike ride with friends.

Friday comes, and Dan leaves early in the morning. I take my suit and towel to work and a few hours later get paged to the front office. I was shocked to see my girlfriend with a HUGE smile on her face, telling me there had been a change in plans. I needed to go home, pack a bag and get to the airport.

Everything was happening so fast and to make things more confusing my friend had been instructed by Dan not to answer any questions. Once at home I find a note and a ticket in my suitcase. The ticket is to Chicago and the note has suggestions of what type of clothing to bring for our weekend and a phone number to call once I get to Chicago. He signed it, ‘see you later, love me.’

My stomach starting flipping and tears pooled in my eyes. How he had pulled something like this off – whatever this was – left me flabbergasted. To make matters more gut wrenching, I arrive at the airport to see my flight has been delayed an hour!

When I finally arrive in Chicago I call the number as instructed and minutes later am picked up by a limo. The driver was just as helpful as my girlfriend. He too had been instructed not to answer any questions. Without any guidance to this wild goose chase, I imagined a number of scenarios, none of which could have topped what was about to happen next.

The limo stops downtown Chicago. The driver pulls out my bags and points me to Buckingham Fountain. He tells me, ‘you’ll know what to do next.’ I haul my luggage around the famous Chicago landmark to find Dan looking extremely sexy. He kisses me and tells me that he couldn’t do this anywhere else but in the city we met.

He drops to one knee and asks me to marry him. After all our years together and the number of ways I imagined him proposing to me I was so nervous I could barely get out ‘of course I’ll marry you.’

He says we have to hurry because we’re already late for our dinner reservation. We rush to a hotel, change as fast as we can and walk in to find my entire family and closest friends waiting to congratulate us. I completely fell apart and couldn’t have been happier. Dan pulled off the biggest surprise of my life and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Hope you guys enjoyed the story! God bless and have a nice day!

My Weekend Frenzy

I think I had fun this weekend... All play and no work... Weekend came to an end when the clock struck 12 an hour ago... Since I sort-of promised Joanne to blog a bit, here's my entry... My Weekend Frenzy episode:

1. Weekend started on 08 August 2009 with a wedding to attend at 11 am. After a great movie (Tuesdays with Morrie) on Friday during Life Nite, I went home and had a good sleep. Sort of freaked out when I woke up to find my eyes swollen from the aftermath of crying (good movies make me cry). Managed to salvage the situation with The Body Shop eyeliner and mascara. While getting ready, I was making an impromptu appointment with my colleague over SMS to get some stuffs in Popular book store...
2. Arrived at Sacred Heart Cathedral almost the same moment as Fenelly (the bride) arrived in her lovely, gorgeous wedding gown. OMG! She looked so beautiful, so peaceful. I was glad I made it. Though there isn't any photo taken (I forgot my camera somehow), but the memory etched in my brain will be forever. Decided of not attending her high-tea reception in Kg. Bahang for I've made the appointment with my colleague... So I went to fetch my colleague after the wedding mass. Hmm... I just loved how couples professed their wedding vows!!~
3. Fetched my colleague and went to Popular in City Mall... Checked out and bought another Bio work book, and 23 paper file folders for my 4M Bio students. It's for PEKA use. Saw one of my students, potential scorer for Biology, at the counter for some last minute book-shopping I think. Had a drink at the food court with colleague and we shared about God and life. It was a good outing really... Left City Mall around 3pm, sent my colleague back and headed home to change and wait for Irene.
4. Irene fetched me at 4pm for our gal outing. Wanted to use the free tickets Aunty Agnes gave me, but it was for some Malaysian films and the time wasn't right... So, we watched the Proposal by Sandra Bullock. A lovely comedy romance. I LOVED IT! I wouldn't mind watching it a second time, really... Everything was creatively perfect! So girls, make sure you take some time off to catch this movie. It's funny, romantic, sweet, and just nice. After movies, we walked around a bit and ended up in NYNY for dinner... Good beef stew with mashed potatoes and sausage wrapped in cheese and ham. Super high cholesterol, but super nice! Well, that ended my Saturday.
5. Sunday started with Life Mass, where I was fully contented being the congregation sitting behind the worshippers. Worshipped along with them... But most importantly, God spoke to me that He'll provide all I need to go through this journey... He will definitely provide. The readings were loud and clear. Thank God!
6. I went to Kinarut Montfort with Irene for their open house bazaar after she met me in church after mass. Met Clement Wong, Mirina, Jason Yong, Thecla, Jeremy Pinso and of course, not forgetting Joanne and friends, and my kids (Amy, Alistair and Daniel Chiang). Amy can really sing, though I missed most of her performance. Looked forward to hear her perform again... Great vocal~ Was glad to see that everyone had fun. I HAD FUN for sure!
7. After the trip to Kinarut, I drove down to Bandar Sierra in Menggatal to visit Ms. Chong, my ex-colleague who is currently posted in Sandakan. Had a short chat with her while she's transferring some documents to my pen drive. Wish time doesn't fly, but it flew. So I had to go home. Thought of sleeping but ended up reading "What Katy Did Next?" for a while.
8. Wrote in my prayer journal a prayer request and then went out to City Mall to get it done... After doing my purchase, I dropped by Popular only to find Irene there!~ Yeah, so we had chit chat over dinner in The Hut City Mall.
9. Got home and took a cool shower.. The weather is super humid and dusty these days!!! Decided to go online and see what's been happening to the world, only to find a total of 26 deaths from A(H1N1) in the whole Malaysia... What the....!!!
10. It's 1.24 am now, way passed my bed time. Weekend's over and out. Tomorrow is the start of SPM Mock I exam and I know my students are pouring over books burning midnight oil last minutely at home, respectively. And so I pray that God will guide them when they are answering their paper tomorrow and until the end of exam. Amen.

Alright, till I have time to post an entry, Pax et Bonum, and God bless!

My Ideal Bridal Bouquet

This is one of my idiosyncratic moments... So here I am, revealing to you all my "ideal bridal bouquet"... I envision myself having a bouquet of sunflowers for my wedding in future... I have not much of an idea why I'm so attracted to sunflowers~~ Don't you think sunflowers seem to be smiling at you everytime you look at them? Haha! No idea when I'd get married since there's no boyfriend in my life now, but I guess it does nobody any harm of imaging my bridal bouquet yea? Hehehehe!!!

There was this song I learned back in the 90's... The first line is like this... "Like a sunflower that follows every movement of the sun, I will turn to You, to follow You, my God..." Apparently, the sunflower will rotate according to the location of the sun (probably due to the auxin in their stems I think)... And that's how our lives as Christians should be... To follow every movement of the One who gives us life - God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. God creates us in His own image of love, Jesus gives us back our inheritance as sons and daughters of God by coming down to earth and dying for us on the cross, and the Spirit leads us into living the life God has given us. The sunflower receives sunlight from the sun, thus it follows the movement of the sun. Then us, even more, should follow the movement of God.

Here are some samples of bridal bouquet with sunflowers as the main flowers... Aren't they gorgeous, unconventional, yet so bright and beautiful??? *smiles*

I'm Back! =)

After two weeks of break from everything in KK, I'm back once again on 13th evening via Airasia. Surprisingly the flight was ok, nothing special except the announcement by the pilot somewhere an hour prior to landing woke me up from my neck-aching sleep! The outcome: Inability to sleep early after a huge supper at my favourite "mee bab*" shop in Lintas with Felix, Von Teo and Ah Boon. Smooth landing, I'd say - Thumbs up for the Captain!

So what have I been doing since 1 Dec 2008?

01/12/08

• Checked all my mails, clearing everything and packing in the morning.
• Had dinner with Mel in airport (thanks for the treat, gal!^__^)
  
• In the air for 2.25 hours and touched down safely around 11.30pm, went for supper with parents.

02/12/08

• Arrived home at 2 something in the morning. Introduction to Kiki and played with him for a moment. Realized he's not-so-chihuahua. (Update: I just checked online and 80% confirmed that he's a min pin/chi mix (miniature pinscher + chihuahua mix).
• Slept late and woke up to the sound of my aunty from Kuantan with her grandchildren (age 8, 10 and 14).

03/12/08

• Visited Batu Pahat (Including the Pantai Minyak Beku and Perigi Batu Pahat).
• Petted humongous "dragon fish" in some temple in BP.

04/12/08

• Visited organic farm (near entrance only) nearby my hometown.
• Went to Pontian to visit my uncle then headed to Kukup for a wonderful seafood meal after strolling on the tiny "roads" in between houses on water. Saw magrove swamp... and wonder why people just don't like to take good care of the ocean environment~

05/12/08

• Met up with my ex-classmate (form 1-6) who was to be married on 07/12/08 to get my invitation card. Had a chat with her and visited our ex-classmate's parents to enquire something. I was rather freaked out by the time we wanted to leave... but thank God everything was alright.
• Stayed at home at night... Just lazing around... and lots of GOOD FOOD!

06/12/08

• Met up with some form 6 ex-classmates at Heidi's to crap a while... Then left for Kluang Parade to lepak for about 45 minutes before sending everybody home and attended mass in St. Louis.
• Was rather panic when found out it was a BM Mass... Kinda weird because I rarely attend BM mass and it was once of those times when I didn't have my daily readings (The Light) with me... When I realized I do know some of the mass parts sung I was really happy... Thanks for my KBHK friends... :P
• Right after mass I went over to Bee Yean's house for a night of crapping and catching up with ex-classmates. One of them I didn't meet since 1999 after SPM (that was like 9 years ago)
• Arrived home with "white-attire" crisis because Byean wanted us to wear white attire in the morning of her wedding... Managed to solve the crisis, thanks for Mommy dear! :D
  

07/12/08

• Woke up about 6.30am... Practically dragged myself off the comfy tilam because I was totally exhausted the night before...
• Was ready and arrived at Byean's house about 7.30am. Had breakfast with bride and others...
• The groom and his team of "brothers" arrived at 9.50am (approx.), 20 mins later than the agreed time of 9.30am...
• We, the "sisters", had some fun before allowing the groom to enter the house, including the request of shouting "I love you" to Byean (she was at 1st floor), pole dancing, singing the 1st song he sang to her and some "tips" for us.
• Then we went over to groom's house, continued feasting and crapping. LOL!
• Evening came and we went for dinner reception... The food was great... Catching up was fun. I met one of my ex-classmate who shifted away after form 2. Wow! My age is catching up I guess!

08/12/08

• My aunty and her family left for Seremban after lunch. So left us at home with Kiki... Kinda bored but was acclimatizing fast with Kiki running everywhere at home. He's just too adorable!

08-11/12/08

• Life is good - just at home, waking up late, eating, watching tv, playing with puppy. I even bathed Kiki (without prior knowledge of bathing a puppy)!
• We even brought Kiki for a walk (I was holding him like a baby though) around my neighbourhood. Duhz! He trembles whenever he leaves his "comfort zone" lah!

12/12/08

• Finally decided to get out of my nutshell and meet up with Byean and Tyan Huey for a drink. I had so many types of food in a day... including super spicy thai tom yam, takoyaki, pau, fried kueh tiau, etc... Not forgetting the ice-cream in the morning!
• Tyan Huey brought her adorable baby daughter out with her when she met us up. She's so beautiful... just slightly loud... as babies are always! LOL! :D
• Arrived home in time to watch "The Little Nyonya" on Channel 8 (Mediacorp, SG) then continued on and on... LOL.
• Slept late again...

13/12/08

• Woke up late, still managed to give Kiki a bath before I bathed.
• Dickson came over at 3pm and off we went to airport. Arrived there about 4plus, had a drink and entered departure hall at 5.20pm.
• Everything went smoothly and touched down at 11plus.

14/12/08

• Woke up 10plus, washed bed sheets and blankets. Was informed by dance classmate of additional dance practice so decided to attend it, after informing my dance partner (thank God he said yes!).
• Had my most "challenging" two hours in dance school because of my poor memory on the steps (thank you, Samantha and Phoebe for revising with me and being so patient with me...)
  
• Went back for a shower and headed for mass in St. Simon, then to SHC for choir practice... Oh gosh! Christmas is coming... How would my Christmas be this year? Last year I spent it with a much-cherished companion and some other friends... I think we went to Bishop's Open House after Christmas morning mass. After that I forgot what we did, maybe just crapping at home... I pondered about that on my way back from SHC... I wonder why. Oh well, reconciliation will not come that easily because of the deep hurts we've inflicted on each other. At least for me at this moment, whatever said and done hurt me and I'm still recuperating from it. To him everything might come easily, cheerful and happy-go-lucky now... Haha! Good for him sincerely! Hope he still remembers our happy times instead of condemning me in his own ways because of ............................ Even if he doesn't, I can only wait for God's timing for His will to unfold. I just know His way is the best way... No explanation required on this statement. Just believe He'll make it right. Haha! I'm learning not to doubt... Seriously. I got serious warning during my quiet time on the mountain...
  
• Painted my nails with Elianto's Party Nail Color (Champagne Gold) after removing the "shimmering purple". For the first time in history I'm keeping long nails, painting them and having fun trying to type with long nails (got stuck in between keys a few times and kept having the accident of pressing caps lock when i pressed shift).
  

15/12/08

• Updating blog...
• Schedule including meeting up my principal in school, Dot Leong in her office for lunch, Von Teo at her house for afternoon exercise. LOL! I gotta spend time with the Lord before anything! :D

I'll upload pics later on la... My schedule is packed with activities and pre-school reopening work to do and I've to find time to compress them...

Till then... Pax et Bonum.

Lidz/Jim's Wedding 081108

Ok, FINALLY... Photos update of Lidz/Jim's wedding reception... Sorry I don't have the morning session ones because I forgot to bring my digicam... Hehe!!!

Before the dinner starts... Von Teo (head of ushers) and me... Hehe!! ^__^

A quick snap with the newly wedded - Lidz and Jim...

OMG! Lidz looked so tiny next to Jim~~ Hehe!

My signature SS pose during dinner...

Another SS pose... I love it~~

With mommy wong (Dot Wong's mom)

The gals of my table~~

The MC of the night

Showing off our manicured nails... Umm... Can't really see but Lidz looked gorgeous with her red dinner gown and matching nails... You should have seen the life version...

A photo of the Altos of SHC English Christmas Choir (Christine, Gloria and me)

Me with Lidz's flower bouquet...

Upclose of her bouquet... Look at the pearls~~ (Can you see???)

May God bless Jim and Lidz in the new life of marriage.
Amen!