The Burrow's Trials & Tribulations (Part I)

Life has just been one rollercoaster ride since my last entry two months ago. I had a tough time brushing away all the virtual cobwebs before finding my blog, buried under a mountain of abandoned websites.

Let's do a quick recap. In my last entry, I talked about our little ROM-moon and how we finally got the keys to our new home soon after.

Since then, we've named our home the Burrow, after our love for rabbits. The Burrow is slowly but surely shaping up. We started renovations on 28 October, right after Deepavali.

As with any big projects, hiccups are bound to happen. And we've had a couple of our own. There were little incidents like conflicts of ideas between our ID and us and slightly more serious issues which involved financials.

Perhaps you can learn from our experiences, so I'll give a summary of what happened.

Incident 1:
When the ID first presented his proposal, we came to realise that an ID is after all a designer. What do I mean by that? His first consideration is usually the form factor; whether something looks nice. But for us, besides having a home which looks good, we have to be practical as well. What looks good, may not be practical for everyday life.

For example, his proposed design had a long bench seating alongside a wall, but with a round dining table and 2 individual chairs on the opposite side. While it was nice to have bench seating, logically speaking, only one person could be seated comfortably on the bench and eat at the dining table. Anyone else sitting on either side of the person in the centre would not be able to reach the table without having to lean forward.

So we stood our ground and insisted on a rectangular dining table. Boring but at least it maximises our seating capacity.

Incident 2:
As a qualifying statement, I have to say that though we'ld love to save as much money as possible, we're not that hardworking, in the sense that we will not run all over the island, doing price comparisons for every single item in our shopping list, just so that we can get the cheapest possible price. We'ld do a cursory check just to get an idea of the going rate, and if we find that the item we want is reasonably priced, we'ld go for it.

I respect couples who'ld do their homework throughly and go all out to find the best bargains possible, but for us, it's just way too much effort and takes up too much time which we would rather spend more efficiently. For a couple who relies on public transport and have limited shopping time, this is the choice we've taken.

So, having said that, what happened was that our ID said that he'ld bring us to his recommended shop for our bathroom and kitchen accessories, promising us a reasonable price. But before our appointed date with him, we went off on our own, browsing at Sim Siang Choon to get an idea of the types of sinks we like and for a price review. To us, SSC might not be the cheapest place around but they do have a wide range of products and we get what we intended, a pricing benchmark against which we could gauge when we went shopping.

That done, we met up with our ID who brought us to a non-descript HDB shop where we were recommended one standard no-brand sink for almost $200. I recall in SSC where we eyed a similiar sink, also non-branded, going for $130. But that wasn't the main issue. The problem was that the recommended sink was way too large. Our kitchen is rather small and our counter space was severely limited, thus we just wanted a sink which was less than 800mm wide. That was a challenge in itself coz that shop had a limited range. We were told to choose our ideal sink from a file of catalogues instead, but the pricing was in the range of $300-$400 which was out of our budget.

We didn't want to buy something just because we had to and E told our ID that we'ld like to shop on our own and find something that's really suitable. Guess what happened? Our ID got upset with us. Obviously he stands to gain if we had purchased what we need from that shop. We were sorry that he couldn't get his commission, but we had to stand our ground yet again. Their product range just didn't appeal to us. So risking our prior friendly relationship with the ID, we went ahead with our decision.

In the end, I did a bit of homework online and found a couple of shops which came highly recommended. These shops are located in Jalan Besar. We checked out Poh Joo but ended up buying our items from Eng Soon Huat, across the road from Poh Joo. The people there were wonderfully patient with us and gave us extremely warm service. We were there for hours and even till the end, the uncle and auntie there happily chatted with us and dug up dimension details of the sinks we bought coz we mentioned that we needed in-depth measurements for the ID's planning.

I will talk a little about other hiccups we encountered in the next entry. Hope you guys can learn from what I've shared so far :)

It's been a long time coming....

Oh wow, it's literally been months since my last update. Life has just been so fast-paced that I've had to put the blog aside. So many things have happened since the last entry.

2 of the more significant events are:
1)We're married! (Legally speaking); and
2)We're houseowners!

To expand on those 2 pieces of news, it's been about 2 weeks since our ROM. It was an intimate affair at My Secret Garden and was attended by our families and close friends. I was looking forward to holding our ceremony at the courtyard area, but the skies decided to sprinkle their blessings on us that afternoon, so we had to hold it indoors. But it was a minor setback, for it was the company of our loved ones and the significance of the day that really mattered.

We went on a mini honeymoon after the ROM. Didn't go very far, thanks to a fellow blogger, we found out about this beautiful little island called Pulau Rawa, off Mersing town in Malaysia. It's a really nice place to lie back and relax for a couple of days. Don't expect any fancy facilities. It's pretty back-to-basics. Not totally rough-and-tumble style, but it's a laidback little resort. The water is wonderfully clear and the air of laidback charm is all that I need. I wish I was back there now :(

Then when we came back, it was time for another significant day. We were finally able to collect the keys to our new home. Since then, we've been going to our new place regularly to check on defects and stuff. Just submitted the defects list yesterday.

More developments to come.....

Our day on the Hippo

So thanks to Nuffnang, I won tickets for a ride on the Hippo on the inaugural Family Day Out. With a total of 7 tickets in hand, I had a headache trying to gather people to join me and E for the ride. After a lot of hemming and hawing, finally E's sister accepted our invite. So for me, the first ever Family Day Out, turned out to be a day with my future family. E's sister & bro-in-law brought along 2 of their kids (she has 4 little angels) and E's cousin came along for the fun too.

This would be our first time on the Hippo and also to be at the Singapore Flyer. Naturally the little ones were the most excited about the ride and kept asking which bus would be the one that we'll be taking. And as it turns out, we got the white one, which our guide introduced as 'Snow White'. The kids were ultra tickled by its name and giggled non-stop. We were taken around the city district area, where we spotted a couple taking their wedding photos by the City Hall. We all cheered at them as our bus zoomed past and the bride seemed a tad embarassed by the attention. I bet they've been suffering this fate throughout their shoot as there was a constant line of Hippos looping around the area throughout the day.

We were taken to the spot where the brightly coloured DHL balloon is situated and the kids thought that we'ld be taking the balloon. They were unfortunately disappointed. Perhaps another time...

It was a pretty quick ride, we'ld have loved it to be a longer ride. But nevertheless, the kids loved it and it was definitely a good opportunity to spend a bit of time with E's family.

Interior design for the uninitiated

I wish this entry could be about tips for all those who have gotten their house and are starting to plan for the ID but no, I'm sorry coz I'm totally clueless myself. So what I'm going to do here is to talk about what we've been doing, grasping in the dark aimlessly. Opinions are strictly my own and it could be totally off-track, so follow at your own risk ;)

We've started reading local ID mags. I know most people default to Home & Decor, at least it seems to be the case for the people around us but I personally like Square Rooms better. And if you know people who have renovated their homes or are in the midst of doing so, talk to them and maybe share the mags around. By flipping through magazines, u start to get an idea of the colours and themes u like, and sometimes u spot an idea or two from those featured home which you could incorporate into your very own homes.

I thought we could get some inspirations by visiting Ikea, which we did over the weekend, but maybe it was the crowds, coz nothing really struck my fancy. But it could be a good starting place for some. Nothing beats seeing things in real life right?

Next step for us is to contact ID companies. I didn't know this at all coz the only time I've moved to a new home was 20 years ago, but apparently u can bring your layout to them and request for a quotation. So that's what we're going to do next. And perhaps from there, we can get a better idea of what we want.

I really think we need professional help by the way, coz I'm so sick and tired of seeing all those homes in different combinations of black, white, brown, beige and red. Everyone goes for either minimalistic, retro or resort. I'm so lost. I want something different, but I don't know what I want. (Pardon me if this is what you like though, no offence to u, it is nice, I just want something different from that :) )

My favourite family routine

As E and I inch towards the creation of our own little family, there's one thing I'm really going to miss with mine. On a day to day basis, we get so caught up with our own lives that it's not easy to spend quality time together, dad has his work, bro has his studies, while I have my 'happening' social life (NOT!), mum has always been the pillar of support at home, so I try to make it home for dinner on weekdays, so that she has company, even if the boys aren't home.

However, nothing beats having the whole family together right? That's why sundays have unofficially been recognised as family day. The one day where everyone would be at home. We'ld all laze around doing our own thing until dad gives us the signal that it's time to head out for breakfast/lunch/brunch, then we'ld all rush around like mad.

Once everyone is ready, we'ld all huddle into the car and as dad drives out of the house, the unavoidable question pops up. "Where to eat?" And the standard response would be, "Errr, where ah", "Anywhere", "What you want to eat?" And at random, we'ld mention places that have long disappeared, like Compass Rose, Coachman Inn and whatnots.

Sometimes we'ld head for our standard faves like the Beach Road Prawn Mee shop at Upper East Coast Road, Cafe Cartel or even Ikea. But once in a while, inspiration strikes and we'ld go on a little adventure, heading for places such as Clementi West or Holland Drive for fish/crab bee hoon.

On Mother's Day, inspired dad drove to Botanic Gardens, we were flabbergasted. Were we heading for the atas type places in the gardens? That didn't really sound like dad. Our routine leaned towards the more relaxed and casual. Then it conspired that we were going to the new Taman Serasi food garden. I had no idea that it had reopened, so this came as a big surprise to me.

We headed straight the murtabak stall where dad ordered like we've been starved for days. Two murtabaks (chicken/seafood), 1 curry fish head and the extremely sinful sup tulang. I could practically feel my arteries clogging up but hey, we only live once right?

Later, our tummies filled, we took a stroll around the gardens. Believe it anot, it's our first time there as a family. I've been there a couple of times with E but the parents and bro have not. So it was pretty fun, doing the touristy thing, walking around, pointing out squirrels and examining the flora around us. It was pretty much family bonding time, so much so that we started acting silly, playing around. Even the parents got into the act.

It's days like this that I'll really miss once I'm married. I know we'll still be living near them but things will still be different. But you know what? Instead of dwelling on what might be, I'll just bask in the present and enjoy family time with dad and mum now.

A place to call home

As I mentioned in a previous entry, we were thrilled to find out that we've been shortlisted to select a unit at Bedok and on Friday, we went down to the HDB Hub to do the actual selection. It was a nerve-wrecking week as we monitored the online updates and watched our Top 10 units disappear one by one.

The night before our appointment, we sat down and reviewed the remaining units from our Top 50 list and came up with the streamlined Top 15 list. It wasn't easy as we considered everything from the direction of the sunlight, the social environment, noise level and height.

On the fateful day, we went down to Bedok to visit our soon-to-be home in the morning first. Once we were at HDB, we went to check how many of our shortlisted units had been taken up. I wasn't confident that our first choice would still be there but I was sooo wrong. Only 1 out of our 15 units had been taken and it was one of the last few choices. Our precious first choice was there and we couldn't believe our luck. We checked the updates repeatedly to make sure that neither of us saw wrongly.

So in the end, we secured our 1st choice, which coincidentally was choice number 11 on our original Top 50. I really believed that we were blessed throughout this ballot exercise. We had been trying to get a flat for over a year and kept getting really crappy queue numbers. So when I saw our queue number for this exercise, I was bowled over. I was on the verge of tears when I called E up to tell him the news. And now we're getting our home in a really great location. Now I'm really getting the feeling that we're getting married. *beams*

Banquet Venue

So ironically after setting our heart's on The Regent from the start, we found ourselves leaning towards another venue and finally putting down a deposit for Marina Mandarin instead.

The Regent was my choice venue from the beginning. I loved that they included a jazz band in the package and the ambience as well. The staff were great and the food was good too. My heart was set from Day one and when I first brought E to see the place, he fell in love with the place too. However, one factor made all the difference to us and I'm sure many couples would have this problem.

Cost.

Though it wasn't the most expensive place around, the pricing is relatively competitive, but with prices rising everywhere, every cent counts for us, especially when we have to consider that we're getting a house at the same time. So that couple of thousand dollars difference matters to us.

In fact, like I've been telling my friends, Marina Mandarin was never on the list of consideration, but fate intervened. Everything just happened to fall into place at the right time, so we decided to take it as a sign from above. E says it's God, I say it's my grandparents blessing us. But whoever it is, it's still a sign to us, and so we went with the flow and so here we are. Come 2009, it's a Marina Mandarin wedding for us :)

And we're getting our cave

Private joke between E and myself. After constantly sharing updates about our house-hunting situation with friends and sometimes blogging about our hopes about it, I decided that I wouldn't say anything about it this time until we have signs that it's going to happen and now it has, so it's time to announce that we're finally on our way to becoming house-owners.

Earlier on, we sent in our application for the January 2008 HDB balloting exercise. This marks over a year of failed attempts and from the response, we weren't very hopeful but still we kept our fingers tightly crossed that maybe this time would be different. Perhaps the priority scheme did help coz we opted for the Bedok units, for which a total of over 2500 applications were received and our final queue number was 7x. With 199 4-room units up for selection, this means we stand a high chance of getting a choice unit.

We're absolutely thrilled about this piece of good news. From the looks of it, 2009 is going to be a really significant year in our lives. I can't wait!

Golden Rules For Finding Your Life Partner

Receive this email a couple of days ago and thought it was worth sharing.....

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Golden rules for finding your life partner by Dov Heller, M.A.

When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one wants to make a mistake. Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50%, it appears that many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding Mr./Miss. Right!

If you ask most couples who are engaged why they're getting married, they'll say: "We're in love"; I believe this is the Number 1 mistake people make when they date. Choosing a life partner should never be based on love. Though this may sound "not politically correct", there's a profound truth here.

Love is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a good marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will come. Let me say it again: "You can't build a lifetime relationship on love alone"; You need a lot more!!!

Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you're serious about finding and keeping a life partner.

QUESTION ..1: Do we share a common life purpose?
Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you're married for 20 or 30 years, that's a long time to live with someone. What do you plan to do with each other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to share something deeper and more meaningful. You need a common life purpose.

Two things can happen in a marriage:
(1) You can grow together, or
(2) You can grow apart.
50% of the people out there are growing apart. To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life!

Bottom line; marry someone who wants the same thing.

QUESTION ..2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person? This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having good communication is trust - i.e. trust that I won't get "punished"; or hurt for expressing my honest thoughts and feelings.

A colleague of mine defines an abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your thoughts and feelings. Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally safe with the person you plan to marry.

QUESTION ..3: Is he/she a mensch?
A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test? Here are some suggestions. Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis? Are they serious about improving themselves? A teacher of mine defines a good person as "someone who is always striving to be good and do the right ";.

So ask about your significant other: What do they do with their time? Is this person materialistic? Usually a materialistic person is not someone whose top priority is character refinement.
There are essentially two types of people in the world:
(1) People who are dedicated to personal growth and
(2) people who are dedicated to seeking comfort.

Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before walking down the aisle.

QUESTION ..4: How does he/she treat other people?
The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure. Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up in themselves and self- absorbed?

To measure this, think about the following: How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice to, such as waiters, bus boys, taxi drivers, etc.. How do they treat their parents and siblings? Do they have gratitude and appreciation? If they don't have gratitude for the people who have given them everything; can you do nearly as much for them? You can be sure that someone, who treats others poorly, will eventually treat you poorly as well.

QUESTION ..5: Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after we're married?
Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of trying to "improve"; them after they're married. As a colleague of mine puts it: "You can probably expect someone to change after marriage for the worse" If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to marry them.

In conclusion, dating doesn't have to be difficult and treacherous. The key is to try leading a little more with your head and less with your heart. It pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating; to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key issues. Falling in love is a great feeling, but when you wake up
with a ring on your finger, you don't want to find yourself troubled because you didn't do your homework.

Another perspective...
There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance.. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going anywhere relationships. Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention...

Which ones lift and which ones lean?
Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?
Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?
When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse?
Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know, or appreciate you?

The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

An African proverb states, "Before you get married, keep both eyes open, and after you marry, close one eye"; Before you get involved and make a commitment to someone, don't let lust, desperation, immaturity, ignorance, pressure from others or a low self-esteem make you blind to warning signs. Keep your eyes open, and don't fool
yourself that you can change someone or that what you see as faults aren't really that important.

Do you bring out the best in each other?
Do you compliment and compromise with each other, or do you compete, compare and control?
What do you bring to the relationship?
Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust, past pain?
You can't take someone to the altar to alter them. You can't make someone love you or make someone stay.
If you develop self-esteem, spiritual discernment, and "a life"; you won't find yourself making someone else responsible for your happiness or responsible for your pain. Seeking status, sex, and security are the wrong reasons to be in a relationship.

WHAT KEEPS A RELATIONSHIP STRONG IS:
1. TRUST
2. COMMUNICATION
3. INTIMACY
4. A SENSE OF HUMOR
5. SHARING TASKS
6. SOME GETAWAY TIME WITHOUT BUSINESS OR CHILDREN
7. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch, notes, etc.)
8. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS
9. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE
10. GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT
If these qualities are missing, the relationship will erode as resentment withdrawal, abuse, neglect, and dishonesty; and pain will replace.

May all sentiment beings be well and happy.

In a blink of an eye

Oh no, I definitely need to put more effort into this blog. My last entry was more than a month back, so as usual, I'll have to do a quick summary entry to catch up on what has happened so far.

So we're on the verge of putting down the deposit for the ROM venue and surprise surprise, after all the fuss over wanting a waterfront venue, we've settled on a location on solid ground and smack in the middle of the city. This will be finalised within the next 1 week.

We've also confirmed our photographer. He's really the one service we're not scrimping on, some people may say that it's just the ROM and we should save the expenditure for the AD but E said something that made loads of sense to me. The traditional stuff like the church and banquet are more or less for our families, the ROM is one part of the wedding which we can really put our stamp on. So while we'll definitely try to keep the budget low, we really want a ceremony which isn't run of the mill and something which we'll look back on and be happy about.

And of course after the fuss is over, the only thing left of the ceremony are the people's memories AND photos, so we're willing to spend that little bit more on this.

We're also exploring the possibility of customising our wedding bands. Have consulted our ring designer (sounds so atas right? Hahha) and we're currently waiting for him to advise us on the estimated cost.

Now all that's left to do is to find the perfect dress. More excuse to shop, I'm not complaining ;)

Trudging along with the ROM plans

We've made some progress in this step, though nothing is confirmed until we've put down our deposits. Photographer has been shortlisted, we met up with him 2 weeks ago and the main thing I was looking for during our meetup was essentially our chemistry with him. From his online portfolio, we've already gotten an understanding of his style and skills, from our email correspondence, we've obtained the pricelist, so the ability to work together was the next criteria. At least for me it is, and after our meetup, the decision was made.

Next step is to finalise the venue. We've shortlisted a couple of places and both are waterfront sites. One's more centralised, the other is way out in the east, but I think we'll be taking the east side location as it fulfills more of our expectations. Problem is we've had some issues with the coordinator so we're now in the midst of contacting another co-ord who'ld hopefully be more experienced.

We've also shortlisted a few JPs, and we'll be contacting them once we've confirmed the ROM venue.

Rings have been put on hold for the moment, though we do pop into the stores to check out designs, we're still considering ordering titanium rings from overseas as they are cheaper AND more importantly, more durable. But my concern is how to get a design that will go with the engagement ring.

Finally, the guestlist is now at 60 people *faint* I asked mummy how many pple she had at hers then, she said, 'Your daddy and me, and the 2 witnesses loh'

>Seraphinee foams and collapses at this point<

That's all! And now I have to cater for 60 people and this is not even our actual wedding. I fear for our banquet guestlist.

The Photographer

So we've started looking into various aspects of the wedding. One major breakthrough is that we've managed to set the dates for our ROM this year as well as the AD next year, but I'ld like to keep the exact dates a secret for now. All I will say is that they will both fall in the month of August.

With the dates set, we're now trying to do a couple of things, one of which is to locate a photographer for the ROM, with any luck, if we're really pleased with the fotos, I think we'll probably stick to the same photog for the AD. I've sent out a couple of emails and received pretty prompt response. One photog is an old friend from way back while the other is a recent discovery but really I love both their works. But i think we might be going with the latter, pending a discussion with him.

I asked E to take a look at his portfolio and boy did I get a reaction. E loved his work and promptly decided that he should be the one. According to E, looking at this guy's work made him want to get married immediately. I guess we've found our photog then :) Yay!

Come to think of it, maybe I should hire him to do my graduation album. Hee!

Mr & Mrs C Wedding (12 Jan 2007)

It was a busy day yesterday. E and I attended his buddy's church wedding + dinner and E was the best man. He and Mr C met way back in jc and Mrs C was a schoolmate as well. This particular group of friends of E's accepted me into their fold from the start and I've always seen them as my friends too, so I was deeply touched to be invited to witness the events leading to their union. From the moment the bride entered the church, I saw a smile radiant and brought a tear to my eyes. It has been a long road for them and it's amazing that the journey was coming to an end, but of course it would mean the opening of a brand new chapter for them too.

The church ceremony was a first for me, I never had to attend one before and would probably be the only one I see before our turn arrives. So it was definitely useful for me to get an idea of how things go. Although it obviously doesn't hold as much significance for me religious-wise but it was a beautiful thing I saw. While the ROM formally recognises the legal aspects of the marriage, and the traditional ceremony signifies the acceptance of the family, the church ceremony, I guess, marks the spirituality of the union.

The dinner, while still sticking to various elements of the typical chinese wedding banquet, was anything but bland. The food was great and while I had my reservations about one particular idea initially, it turned out that this made the night memorable and fun. What am I talking about? They had a dance floor. Of course it was more than that. They did away with table shots and instead, chose to mingle amongst the crowds throughout the dinner. The atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful.

These are probably things I should consider at ours, but ideas are still blurry. One step at a time. We better get started on the ROM planning before I even worry about the details of the banquet.

Oh yeah, one last thing. E and I were exhausted by the end of the day and we weren't even the bridal couple. I can't imagine what it'll be like at the end of our wedding. I'll probably be a big grouch and E will tactfully leave me alone, trotting off to bed. I'ld have to beat him to death then. What a start to a marriage. Haha!

Ring ring

After browsing around the singaporebrides forum, I stumbled upon a thread about titanium wedding rings. I did a bit of research on that and the more I read about it, the more appealing it sounds. I shared the link with E and he was keen on it too, and amazingly we both zoomed in on the same design. Great minds think alike? So this option will be put up for consideration.

Later I read about some interesting wordings which people have engraved into their rings, there's of course the standard (initials) + (wedding date) format. Some chose to have romantic phrases and then there are the cheeky ones like one particular one which said "Put it back on" (Unfortunately I had so many windows opened that I forgot which forum I saw that one from, but rest assured whoever this innovative person is that I will not be copying the idea, I just loved the cheekiness behind it).

So that got me thinking, we should start thinking about what we should engrave on our rings. E suggested "Together, Forever", one word on each ring and accompanied by our initials. I vetoed that idea immediately. Why? Because the moment I heard that, Rick Astley's Together Forever started playing in my head. So obviously it's a no go!

Today I chatted with a few galfriends and one of them gave me this idea: "Seraphinee will bully E forever". I laughed my head off but come on, it's way too long to fit on a ring right? So we had to modify it.

Version 2 goes: His ring, "E is Seraphinee's slave" Her ring, "Seraphinee is E's master" Now I should have said mistress but then again it sounds wrong!

Version 2 sounds good, but it's a tad too long-winded, so I decided another round of modification would be good. So here's version 3...His ring, "Seraphinee's slave" Her ring, "E's master"

It's perfect. Now to tell E about it. His reaction when we return. *LOL*

Long Update Ahead

So many things have happened since the last entry. I've been on holiday with my family to South Korea, got my final exam results back, celebrated my first ever New Year with my fiance *beams* and it's been all good.

The holiday was great, only disappointment was that we didn't get to experience snowfall. Sure we saw a mix of natural and manmade snow up at the ski resort and remains of snow swept to the sides at some other place, but we were expecting to see some full scale snow fall action which did not happen :( And to rub salt into the wound, it was reported that heavy snows started the evening we were back in Singapore *pouts* That does it, I will convince E to list Korea as one of the places to visit, after we've done our global Disneyland tour.

Results were good as well, I'm very relieved that the whole studying thing is over, will probably take a short break now and decide what to do next. I've been wanting to pick up a 3rd language, perhaps Korean? Or baking? Or perhaps pursue a cert in Psychology. I've completed 40% of the modules needed for a graduate diploma so that could be a viable possibility. E is horrified that I can't seem to stop studying though. LOL

Because of the Korea hols, I missed Xmas celebrations with E and to make up for it, we had our own private NYE celebrations at Sentosa. It was definitely quality time well-spent and though we were a little apprehensive initially about spending NYE in such a quiet manner, I think we both agreed that it was a wonderful decision made in the end.

Now we're into 2008 and a interesting year lies ahead to say the least. Unfortunately though, HDB threw us a curveball yesterday with the release of the Telok Blangah BTO. Our queue number is in the 3000 category and we're definitely out of the quota of 420 who would be invited to make their selection. Unless the 1st 3000 people suddenly change their minds or something, this option has flown out of the window for us. But then again, there were like 6000 over applications for the 4 room flat option, so in a way, having been placed in the top 50% somehow makes me feel that teensy bit better about the whole thing though obviously it still means we're out of the race. So it's back to the drawing board for us.