Emo period

As the day draws nearer everyday, I have been reflecting on the past. Yes, the past is the past. But what if that day, in November 2007 happened, and we are no longer together, can we ever get through the days without being together? We made so many compromises and sacrifices to get where we are now.

Many times, I kept asking myself, why do I have to try so hard last time when he is sitting there just next to me? I would have not gone through all those heartaches and headaches last time if I know I'm going to marry that same guy with "karipap" hairstyle who is sitting just next to me in the class. If we knew, we could have developed that special bond since those days and not wait till we both felt so lonely that we got together.

But honestly, through these 6 years, we have developed that special bond, not only in terms of being a couple but also as friends. We gossiped, joked and laughed together. Even, when we argued at the top of our voices in the car, we still came to a compromise.

Like whhhattt...I'm getting married to Hatta Tubah in 63 days!

We actually planned for our wedding to be held this weekend because of the special date "10.10.10" but well, our parents disagreed. We could have been married by this Sunday and postpone our honeymoon till December lah...aper dah...

Well....preparations are almost complete except for the decoration of the bridal chamber and appointments with the spa.

Cannot imagine...

Honeymoon ≠ Mating Period

Practicum has ended and now I'm doing my last lap in NIE before I become a full fledged teacher. Very relaxed but at the same time anxious and looking forward towards our Big Day...

Anyway, the one thing that we look forward to is not the wedding but it's the event after.Honeymoon-ing does not only mean a time for mating but it's also a time to enjoy ourselves in another country.

I have mentioned earlier that we will be going to Korea for our honeymoon, a Muslim tour package organized by Shahidah travel. The actual itinerary is already out as following:

Day 01: Singapore (Meals on board/Halal Dinner)
Assemble at 5.05am at Changi Airport Terminal 2. Depart on SQ for your flight to Seoul. Upon arrival, meet & greet. Proceed to Yangpyeong English Village, where the famous drama "Boys Above The Flowers" did their filming.

Day 02 : Seoul/Nam-I Island/ Mt.Sorak (Breakfast/ Halal Lunch)
Have a fun-filled experience at Everland. Everland includes a zoo, snow sledding, and botanical garden. It has three distinct themes namely Festival World, Caribbean Bay and Speedway. Proceed to Nam I-Island which is famous for its beautiful tree lined roads and one of the shooting places for the popular love story film “Winter Sonata”. Proceed to Chuncheon Myeongdong, where also famous because of several scenes from “Winter Sonata”. Enjoy the shopping experience.

Day 03 : Mt. Sorak/Ski Resort (Breakfast)
Visit to Mt.Sorak also called as Mt Seolsan and Mt Seolbongsan. Were named Seorak because the snow would not melt for a long time and its rock stay white like snow. Then check-in ski resort.

Day 04 : Ski Resort (Breakfast)
Full day ski tour with unforgettable experience. This valley contains many beautiful sites, views and is well worth a day visit.


Day 05 : Ski Resort/Seoul (Breakfast/Halal Lunch)
Begin the day with a morning tour to Gyeongbok Palace, most comprehensive and grandest of the five palaces of Joseon Dynasty, and National Folk Museum. The Blue House, National Ginseng Outlet, Amethyst Showroom. Proceed to Itaewon, the most exotic place in Seoul where you can eat, enjoy yourself and go shopping, all under a “fusion” cultural code. Enjoy at Lotte World, gigantic multi purpose complex featuring shopping malls, sports facilities, an indoor and outdoor theme park, a deluxe hotel and folk museum.

Day 06 : Seoul - Singapore (Breakfast)
After breakfast, enjoy Kimchi making experience & opportunity to wear traditional Korean costume Han-Bok. Then proceed for shopping spree at Namdaemun, Korea’s oldest open air wholesale market and Dongdaemun Market - Shopping Kingdom of Seoul with about 20 shopping malls, 30,000 stores and around 50,000 wholesalers. Transfer to airport for flight back to Singapore.


What's exciting about this trip is that it will be winter season and our main destination will be that of the ski resort, so therefore, we will be able to experience sub-zero temperatures. Both of us were so excited that we quickly went to start purchasing our winter wear. 


As it's well-known that in Singapore, the winter clothing sold here are pretty costly. However, we have found the best place to buy quite cheap winter clothing which can be found in the heartlands. We went to this shop down at Sunshine place called Gidel and they sell winter clothings for mostly less than SGD90! Unfortunately, they do not sell the accessories such as socks, snowcap, longjohns, gloves, etc.... Therefore, we still have yet to buy them...which is probably soon.


Anyway, I just bought a luggage bag for my trip...yay-ness!~

I apologize for the horrible make-up. 

We call it the "end-of-the-day" make-up. Hehehehe...

Wedding Gifts

I'm into my ninth week of practicum!! A week more before I can read a magazine in bed while watching tv again and waking up late everyday!! Weeee~

Anyway, let's update about my wedding planning. Both of us finally went down to Ratu Weddings to choose our outfits for the day. I opted for 4 outfits according to their updated Regal Bridal package, 2 outfits from their exclusive collection and the other 2 outfits from their main collection. It was kind of exciting except for the fact that I have lots of weight to lose! I want to look good in that pretty grey with pink flowers gown and also the red-gold songket-lace outfit.

Next, finally, we have confirmed our wedding cards and they will be ready by the end of September. We can therefore have 1 month to write the addresses down and mail them out.

Lastly, talking the gifts exchange or also known as gubahan, we both bought most of our stuffs during the Great Singapore Sale this year. Most of our branded stuffs came with a huge discount! I will not disclose how they look like or what they are but if you are looking for the best deals, it is best to buy them during the sales because firstly they have discounts plus if you go to places like Tangs or Takashimaya, you may even get additional discounts from the staffs there!

Jewelled heels from D&C

Jewelled heels from Anna Nucci

Talking about discounts, on my previous entry, I've mentioned about my wedding shoes. Yes! Bought a pair from Anna Nucci at Far East Plaza for merely S$20 and another pair from D&C for S$28!!!!!!!! What's the point of buying expensive shoes when at the end of the day, they are just going to hurt your feet? Hehehe....on the other hand, Hatta bought himself a 7in Walking Tall pair of shoes for about S$150 just to ensure that he has the height on that day. (:

I will be adding a widget here to list down the websites which contributes to the planning of my big day.

The sweetness and bitterness of planning a wedding

7 weeks have passed ever since practicum started at Woodlands Secondary School. Currently, I have another 5 lesson observations to go before I can sit back and relax. Alhamdulillah, things are going more smoothly than expected although not perfect.

Anyway, wedding updates!!!

For the past 7 weeks, we got many things done and organized. We bought a new bedroom set in advance at Novena's warehouse. Our furniture set was freakingly cheap priced at $399 and we can even buy another wardrobe at $899 plus a good quality mattress at $1699!

After that, the deco side from Ratu Weddings came down to view the venue for the reception. They asked me to prepare a softcopy of the layout plan to send via email to them but because of my super super busy schedule, I was not able to come up with the layout anytime soon until maybe after next week once I have completed 9 lesson observations!

Next, we also registered our solemnization date at ROMM which is temporarily residing at MDA building till next February. It was a very new experience for us and I cannot wait to sign that certificate!

Afterwhich the following week, we managed to reserve seats for
our honeymoon to guess where........ Korea!!! We opt for a Muslim tour package and it's worth it. We took up a tour package by Shahidah Travel which costs about $1899 for 7 days and 5 nights. The itinerary of the tour can be found at their webpage.

Lastly, I will like to share with you my horrible experience finding the wedding cards. Ok...as we are having a tight budget, we have decided to make our cards in Malaysia as they are two times cheaper than in Singapore. So, prior to going down to the shop at Larkin, I prepared the wedding cards templates for both my dinner and lunch receptions. I had a hard time making choices because they are freaking cheap that to me, all designs are nice. What surprised me when we wanted to place our orders. The shop owners were very impatient and are very inflexible to our requests!!! You see, my dinner reception card is very special because it is meant for our colleagues, ex-schoolmates and my parents' friends. We are expecting mostly non-Malays. So, therefore, the card template was personally designed by me to have a personal English touch to it. The thing is that the Malaysians were unable to accept the way I designed the card, it not having my parents' names on it. So, one of the shopowners insisted that I put in our parents' names which I profusely refused and said that this reception is a personal invitation from us. They were like telling me that I am disrespecting my parents. You don't know how angry I got. I even heard how they backstabbed me in Mandarin thinking that O don't understand till I complained to my parents which actually left the shopowners dumbfounded.

Not surprisingly, last weekend, we went down to look at the first sample of the cards. My lunch reception card totally didn't follow the way I want it to be and all of us rejected the whole card and insisted that they re-do it. So, we will be going down again next weekend to look at the new samples.

Ok...so you have the ups and downs of planning a wedding.

What I didn't mention here are my wedding shoes and their prices which may surprise
many and also the gifts for exchange which we bought for each other. These will be mentioned in my next entry. =)

For now, have a nice day and Selamat Berpuasa!

Ciaox!~

10 weeks practicum

Well, it's been some time since I've last updated.

I've been busy nowadays preparing templates for my wedding cards plus other admin matters. Also, at the same time, I'm preparing myself for the upcoming practicum - practical teaching examination in a school. I'm going to be pretty busy for the next 10 weeks and Insya'Allah, I hope I'm able to pull myself through the toughest period during this training. I just want julyaugustseptember to pass by so fast that before I know it wedding bells start to ring for me. Hehe...

Will be all for now....

Adioss

Food Review: Sakura Thai & Chinese Halal Restaurant

We decided to visit Northpoint on one of those days to have dinner. After going through the halal restaurants directory online, we have decided to have dinner at Sakura Thai & Chinese Halal Restaurant.

We were greeted with warm service from the staff when we entered the restaurant followed by a very nice ambiance.

 Looking at their menu, they have the typical Thai cuisine which can also be found at Bali Thai or Siam Kitchen. Plus, the food was kind of pricey!

Anyway, we decided to try something different from a Thai restaurant so we ordered:

Dendeng Fried Rice which was of ok ok taste. It tasted like Chinese Fried Rice with additional dendeng on it which did not alter the taste of the rice cause it's chicken based. 6 out of 10 stars for this dish.

Tom Yam Fried Rice tasted no different from Sambal Fried Rice. It wasn't spicy and had no distinct taste of Tom Yam. We only found a piece of lime leaf in the rice which did not create that Thai impact plus it was extraordinarily SWEET! Still another 6 out of 10 stars for this dish.

We totally hated the Pandan Chicken. It costs 8 bucks and it tasted horrible. Absolute failure for us. If possible, they should alter the taste to that of Bali Thai's.

The plus point for this restaurant is their staff service as well as their romantic ambiance. Even though we were not satiated with the food from this restaurant, probably you may have a different experience...

Where you can find Sakura Thai & Chinese Halal Restaurants:

NorthPoint Shopping Centre
#B1-40
Operating Hours: 11:30AM to 10:30PM
Last order at 10PM

Far East Plaza
#05-32
Tel/Fax: 6737 4578
Operating Hours: 11:30AM to 10:30PM
Last order at 10PM

Capitol Building
#01-04
Tel/Fax: 6333 0890
Operating Hours: 11:30AM to 10:30PM
Last order at 10PM

Kopitiam City (Buangkok MRT)
#01-37, 277C Compassvale Link
Kopitiam City (Buangkok MRT)
Tel/Fax: 6556 2187
* 24 Hours

Jurong Point Shopping Centre
#03-35 (FEAST, new wing)
Tel/Fax: 6795 3810
Operating Hours: 11:30AM to 10:30PM
Last order at 10PM

Thoughts

I just had one of the most painful traditional massage right at my own home. Gosh....at least, my legs, thighs and ankles are behaving now. Except that I have blue blacks all over my body! How do I wear short sleeves to school tomorrow?

Just another thought...I seem to find it weird that someone whom I considered my friend becomes part of the family and I'm not referring to Hatta. It's just that I'm still not used to the "in laws" thing and I treat them more like friends rather than a bro-in-law or sis-in-law. Let's just let time takes it own course but I know it will be weird.

Oh yah...I apologize profusely to my love because of my rudeness towards you...

=)

Bike-a-thon 2010

As you all know, I'm currently doing my postgraduate diploma at NIE as a student teacher. So, for the first semester, we had this service learning project whereby we had to organize a non-profit event in a team of 20 with the main purpose of helping the society.

The project that my team (named Twenty-four Seven) came up with was the Bike-a-thon event whereby we partnered with Yishun's Student Care Services Centre. The planning process was a four months thingy and I was the Communications Secretary for the team. Gosh...I tell you...it was tough. But finally, all our hard work bore its fruits. It was a successful event and this event can only be described in the form of photos and here they go....

The event was in lined with the EMIT! Village Carnival which was held at Nee Soon East Community Centre to commemorate the upcoming YOG 2010 in Singapore.

The banner for our event which was designed by yours truly.  

*smiles widely*

The bicycles were tagged according to the teams.

A group of professional cyclists were there from Woodlands Cyclique to help support us in our event.

The day started with lots of havoc as the youths gathered according to their respective teams.

Me, Matt and Karen were posted at Bottle Tree Park for the youth interaction games and I had a really good time bonding with the youth. I forgot how that felt like since Greenridge Secondary.

Karen with Lin Yen posing for my camera...

The post event collating of results and votes.

The youths were gathered inside a room to do an evaluation form which is part of our "evidence" that we have carried out the event.

Suma was our MC for the day...

The prize-giving ceremony for the 10 groups of youths from Student Care Services Yishun, Clementi and Hougang.

The top prize for the day was a limited edition bicycle sponsored by one of our sponsors whereby only one youth will be highly recommended by the Woodlands Cyclique mentors as well as station masters according to his/her sportsmanship, respect, fairplay and integrity.

This youth won the bike because he showed sportsmanship in a unique way whereby sportsmanship is not only about winning but also showing care and concern towards his team mates.

The youths contributed in the signing of the huge poster for our team.

The group of 70 youths who participated in the event.

The games station masters allocated at Lower Seletar Resevoir showing the 3 core value of the Olympics, Excellence - Respect - Friendship

Team Twenty-Four Sevens

First Row (Left to Right): Johnny, Bei Si, Shing Kit, Pei Yong, Pamela, Josephine, Benny

Second Row (Left to Right): Matt, Suma, Elaine, Karen, Nuriathu, Vaani, Nurul Shahraini

Third Row (Left to Right): Dr Chelsea Chew, Gin, Lin Yen, Sheau Yng, Me, Liqing, Wei Jie

Food Review: The Manhattan Fish Market

We had always wanted to eat at The Manhattan Fish Market. Well, it started out one Sunday evening, we were taking different cars, away from my family, to have a so-called solo date. So, we went to Marina Square to catch Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time. It was coincidental that my family also ended up at the same place and sitting at the row in front of us. After the movie, my mother was super hungry that we wanted to go Tambuah Mas and surprisingly, it was not halal as they serve alcohol.

While on our way to searching Tambuah Mas restaurant, we saw The Manhattan Fish Market. And BANG!, I suggested to have dinner there.

Honestly, our experience there was very unforgettable, in a good way. We were warmly welcomed by the staffs there and surprisingly, the guy who served us took our orders by memory! I've never been to a restaurant whereby the server was able to get our orders correctly just by memorizing...

Anyways, let's get to the food.

I ordered the seafood chowder as an appetizer. It was normal and I wish it could taste better but anyways, this soup comes with a drink at SGD4.50 when you order any main course.

Me and hubby ordered a platter for 2 called the Manhattan Fish platter.It comes with a huge fried fish, tempura clams, tempura squid, flaming prawns, garlic rice and chips. This platter was very unforgettable, especially the garlic rice and flaming prawns. It was a super super delicious finger-licking good platter with 11/10 stars!! Worth the money at SGD33.90. 

We cleared every single piece of foooood on the steel platter.

My mom ordered the mud-pie as dessert and she totally loved it because it was not sweet and it tasted like cold hard frozen chocolate ice-cream! 7/10 stars

We ordered Tiramisu for dessert and it was kind of ok ok cause we were too full to stomach creamy desserts. 6/10 stars

I bet after looking at these photos, you may consider going to The Manhattan Fish Market for dinner during the weekends. Furthermore, you can kick-away Fish & Co now, cause The Manhattan Fish Market is HALAL-certified! I can guarantee you that you will want to come back for more cause so do I! *thinking of the flaming prawns*

Where you can find The Manhattan Fish Market outlets:

Marina Square

6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square
#02-182 Singapore 039594

North Point

Yishun Avenue 2, North Point
#02-06/07 Singapore 769098

White Sands

1 Pasir Ris Central Street 3,
White Sands Shopping Centre
#01-18/19 Singapore 518457

Junction 8

9 Bishan Place,
Junction 8 Shopping Centre
#01-22/30, Singapore 579837

City Square

180 Kitchener Road
#04-12/13, City Square Mall

Plaza Singapura

68 Orchard Road, Plaza Singapura
#06-07, Singapore 238839

The Central

6 Eu Tong Sen Street,
The Central
#02-79/90, Singapore 059817

Iluma

201 Victoria Street, Iluma @ Bugis
#04-05, Singapore 188067

Valentine's Day Story

This may be kind of outdated. I was browsing through the Net last night when I saw this. You see, when I just got my iPhone, I sent in a Valentine's Day story to Stomp.

Here's how the article is like:

World of Shoes

So what does shoes and Liyana have in common??
'
'
'
'
They both boomed the credit card bills!!

Ok...I have an orgy for shoes. What's the BIG deal? I'm a lady after all and I really love shoes compared to bags/ clothes/ make-up. I can say that I have not much of a space to keep my shoes other than under my bed (using the shoes organizer) or at the front door. I do not splurge on Jimmy Choos or Lois Vuitton shoes but shoes are shoes and I'm very particular on its quality. I have maybe about 16 pairs of them now and buying more soon (for my wedding). My shoes range from the high heels to track shoes to open-toe pumps to Crocs wedges!

I've been having so much time at home now that I can dig out all my shoes and show it to the world. I may not be Imelda Marcos who has a whole closet full of shoes (3000 pairs!), but I'm the average girl who has more than 10 shoes under her bed.

I love my heels to be of one of the best quality, although it sometimes hurt to wear them when I walk around Orchard. My heels are mostly from Charles and Keith as well as Bata. Some of them, I barely wore for 3 times!

Comfort shoes are the best when you need to walk for hours or even for exercise. My most comfortable shoes are from Lacoste and it is already 3 years old! The right top corner are my Adidas track shoes and it has gone miles with me!!The bottom shoes are my faithful Nike golf shoes!

One of the best comfortable shoes which I love to wear to work. The top left hand was bought from D&C and they are low open toe platforms. The other 3 pairs were from Charles & Keith. 

Wedges from Crocs which were bought from one of those Metro sales at Singapore Expo. The pink one was worn for about 3 times only and I never wore the brown one before. Too many shoes till I never looked at these when I go out. 

Awesome flats which I truly truly love most because they are the MOST comfortable to wear and the CHEAPEST among my shoes. I bought these from Cotton On and they were going for 2 for SGD25 and 1 for SGD10. These pumps are most worn because I could drive without taking them off. Would like to invest my credit cards more on these!

All my shoes, lined up, not for sale but for the WORLD to see.

Imagine a world without shoes!!

Movie Review: Marmaduke

Cast: Owen Wilson, George Lopez, Stacy Ferguson
Director: Tom Dey
Genre:Comedy

Movie Trailer:

Movie Sypnosis:

For Phil and Debbie Winslow, moving their family from Kansas to the O.C. is a big deal. For their enormous Great Dane 'Marmaduke', (voiced by Owen Wilson) however, the move means a whole new way of life. It's chaos at home and awkward at work as the Winslows struggle to control their angsty teenage canine.

My Movie Review:

Marmaduke looks like Scoopy Doo with it's animation effects and the behavior. The whole movie was rather engaging accept for the middle of the movie whereby the storyline becomes kind of slow and a bit boring. But for most of the movie, you can find yourself laughing or maybe even tears in your eyes especially at the end of the movie. I guess it's a pet lovers show whereby those who owned pets know very well how they feel towards their pets. So am I, cause at the end of the movie, hubby found me tearing up. Hah! Out of 5 popcorns, I'll give it a 4!

The 6 months jitters

My most heartiest congratulations to my dear secondary school bestfriend, Sukhairen Kaspan, for getting hitched to her husband, Fuad on 5th June 2010. Hah....3 years have passed since she got engaged....

During this period, I'm starting to get very very curious as well as nervous. I do not know how it feels like to go through the henna night and also how do we go through the post solemnization. I wonder how it's like waiting for your husband-to-be and his relatives to arrive before the solemnization. Or what it's going to feel like being the centre of attention. Or how heart-throbbing it's going to be like when I hear the sound of the kompang coming from faraway, knowing that my husband has come to meet me. Gosh! Honestly, I'M GETTING NERVOUS each day....

I know...more importantly for now, is to save every penny that I can for the event...

In the end, I just want to be by the side of Hatta, going through life, hand in hand together. Nothing else matters....

Food Review: Noor Jannah's - House of Opeh

You never know when a food critic will just walk-in into your restaurant one day, taking photos and commenting on your food on a scale of 10.

Me and hubby are one of those "unknown" and mysterious food critics or shall we say that we are not professionals but we often go to new Halal restaurants or places to try the food and recommend them to our friends or family members.

First up, I'll start with commenting on Noor Jannah's - House of Opeh restaurant, along the small alley of Jalan Masjid, opposite of Masjid Kassim.

We were from Raffles City Shopping Centre that day when we could not decide on what to eat. With the help of high technology (ehem...iPhone)... we checked out a famous food review blog online (the simplest aphrodisiac) and we pounced across this House of Opeh restaurant with the amazingly good reviews. And surprisingly, they have kind of a never-seen-before Halal food there.

Noor Jannah's is not one of those normal restaurants which I will normally go because of the location - by the road side and non-aircon, but surprisingly the food was great!!

The menu was just a normal menu only that have you ever tasted Bone Steak Horfun on Opeh? We never tasted that before cause it's out of the ordinary but I don't eat mutton...sooo we passed...

I had the conventional homemade ice lemon tea whereas he drank longan blueberry drink which tasted kinda weird.

SGD1.50 to SGD2.50

The ultimatum - Chili Crab Horfun on Opeh... Awesomely-Awesome!

This is a HUGE serving so it's best to share it among 2-3 people unless you can stomach the whole thing alone... This dish is only for those who can bear the spicy-ness of the chilli...not just a normal chilli crab!

(Rating - 10/10) - SGD12

So, we often had cereal prawn...what about trying cereal squid? Noor Jannah's restaurant gave us this opportunity to come out of the box and try something new.  

It was delicious...good for those who has trouble chewing or are tooth-less...heee

(Rating - 8/10) - SGD8 for a small serving

Craving for rojak? We had char-kuay only rojak as a starter and trust me it was very "POWER". Super spicy too...

(Rating - 8/10) - $3/ $5 per plate

We both shared the chili crab and finished the cereal squid but packed the rojak. We were sweating through our scalp, even me who has the spicy tongue. But all was worth it...

A Halal place that you can consider going to one day after shopping at Geylang.

Address: 2 Jalan Masjid

Parking: Nearby Kembangan Shopping Centre