10 years time..... Rhys and I have made a pact... We will each write a letter to each other and unlike other letters, there is one special rule......That is, the letter can only be opened 10 years down the road, on 14th Feb 2020!! Then the second letter will be written and again it can only be opened in another 10 years... I dunno how many 10 years can this game continue but we shall see then.. hahaYes, I have come up with this silly idea and luckily Rhys finds it interesting :p I have just finished penning my letter and I find myself writing quite a lot to the Rhys in 2020... What will he be like 10 years down the road, what will I be doing as a mid 30s woman? What will our life be like? I'm so curious....The letter also serves as a record of the happenings in 2010 and letting myself in 2020 to 回味! I bet the wife in 2020 will be smiling at the letter written by the hubby in 2010.... By then, I guess we can only say 往事只能回味！Just like the diary that we used to write when we were young, don't you find it amusing when you read it again when you grow up?To my hubby in 2020 .............................. Happy Chinese New Year :D!!!! Hello everyone :D!!!!It’s a little bit early, but Fei Zi and I would like to wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year :D! May you have a joyful reunion dinner with your family, and hopefully strike Toto too, haha :D….And yes, this blog has not been updated since the last new year! Eh, I meant the ang mo new year of course, haha :D…. Here’s a list of what we’ve been busy with:1) Bejewelled Blitz. I tell you, this one-minute game is a misnomer because we ended up losing count of the number of ‘one-minute’s we spent on it! Having said that, we are still very lousy, haha…. We’re trying to beat each other’s score to claim the weekly prize of a Koi bubble from the best loser, haha :D….2) Temptation of Wife. I used to think K-dramas are nothing more than long-winded tear-jerkers. Ok, this show is also long winded and soapy, but oh so addictive! We would rush home after work religious for the misadventures of Ju Encai, or camp in front of Youtube to catch up on any episodes we missed. It’s so good :D!!!!3) One Piece Unlimited Cruise. Three years on and we’re still having fun with Wii! Amazing. I think we’re mad, trying to catch sharks and giant sea turtles in front of the TV. Heh.As you can tell from the above, we are a modern nerd family, yeah :D!!!!4) Other noteworthy stuff was this conversation we had during a bus trip a couple of months back. “Do you think Hong Kong is nice?”“I don’t know, let’s find out :)!”Before we know it we were in Macau and Hong Kong!It was our very first trip there and we ate, shopped, and took tones of pictures. Here’re some of them :)!Haha, there’re actually quite a few major stuff that have been keeping us busy, will tell you about them when the time is due :)! Once again, happy Chinese New Year everyone :)!!With Love,Rhys & Fei Zi :) ~Happy 2010~ Hi, everyone! Today I woke up early on this first day of year 2010 for our annual run. Rhys has this "tradition" that he will run on the first day of each year, therefore, I have the duty to complete this "tradition" with him....So I dragged my sleepy-self out of bed and did my most disliked sport - running.. Actually, it's more of slow jogging for me.. haha, I'm not a good runner :PWe started from our house and jogged all the way to Yishun station.. We took about 50 mins for a distance of about 4.5km.. I know this timing is lousy but it is a great achievement for a person who jog only once a year, hahaha....We ended our jog with a fulfilling breakfast at Ya Kun.. Yummy!!=DHere's wishing all a great and fulfilling 2010.. Good health and good feelings always =) Fun With The E-P1 :D! Hello everyone :D!!!!My goodness, it’s been quite some time since our last entry :D! One of the reasons why this is so is because we have got ourselves a new toy…. The Olympus E-P1 :D!!!!Picture courtesy of dpreview.comYes yes, after getting thrashed by my Dearest Wifey in our photo contest, I’ve finally honored my loser’s forfeit and got her this wonderful camera from Olympus :)! We’re totally “wowed” by the picture quality of the E-P1, which is way better than our point-and-shoot digicams. What’s equally impressive is that fact that they managed to squeeze DSLR-like quality in such a petite package, which looks incredibly sexy with its retro styling!Ok, enough talk! Here’s one of my first, and currently favorite picture I took of the Lovely Wifey :)Me :)!We love 1:1 aspect pictures :)!Some ‘artistic’ shots:We also tried our new toy out on the unsuspecting Ningjia and Jeffrey :)!!And yes, as you can probably guess, we’re planning to have another photo contest soon :)!!!! The loser have to ‘sponsor’ a kick-ass set of lens this time, heh :)…. We have already starting taking lots of pictures, starting from Fort Canning :)! Stay tuned :)!!!!With Love,Barneysaurus :) Wedding Anniversary Celebration I know it's a bit overdue but since I'm nursing my wisdom tooth extraction, I better start blogging about it, hee......14 Sep 09 was our first year wedding anniversary. Some time back, Rhys chanced upon a great deal for Regent's one night stay. The price was only half price of their usual rate, so we decided to book one night stay at Regent!! We were already quite pleased with the good offer and what made us even happier was that they upgraded our standard room to........ (at no additional cost)Minister suite!!!!!! See my shocked face!The suite was really huge. Besides the bedroom, there's also a large living room, dining area, 2 bathrooms and 2 TVs!!........ The hotel stuff even joked that we could play hide and seek there... hahaSee our happy faces!The celebration went on with us going to Cineleisure to take Neoprint! It was like ages ago since we took Neoprints and we had fun posing and decorating the photos.... Soon it was time for dinner and we decided to try out a place where we never dined before...So as we walked, we chanced upon "Sun with Moon" at Wheelock place and decided to give it a try... Our verdict: It was nice!! The deco was nice, so was the atmosphere and food... =)So that's about our first year wedding anniversary celebration.... A year on and counting =) Wedding Anniversary Eve brunch! Hi, everyone, it's Flying Paper's turn to blog... hee...As some of you know, 14 September 09 was our first year wedding anniversary! Can't believe it has been one year already since we got married... To celebrate, we had a Sunday brunch on the eve of our anniversary at......We heard that Sunday brunch at this 6-star hotel costs about $130 each!!! However, we were lucky enough to eat there for FREE!! Yeah!! Haha, we won the Sunday brunch vouchers at a lucky draw so we decided to use it on this special occasion.. hee hee....The place for the Sunday brunch was Brasserie Les Saveurs and the restaurant was indeed posh and most importantly, the buffet made us feel hungry!!!We were ushered to our seat and we were told that besides the buffet spread, there would be al-carte food dishes that the waiters would bring around to each table. We were also given a food menu where we were allowed to choose a main course too.....Here are some of the food pictures we took..... Pardon for the few photos as we were busy eating to take pictures, haha.... The starter that they gave to each table...Frankly speaking, I don't know what the dishes are :PA bun with "foam"They even served Chinese food, roast pork! They were juicy and crispy!! Yummy!Our favourite Sashimi!!Foie Gras...Mmm, we don't really fancy this...Bread corner....Fresh Oysters! But we were not a fan of this delicacy :PMeanwhile, we ordered our mains... They served Beef, Wagyu beef somemore...Rhys wouldn't resist them in normal times but however, he has made a promise not to eat beef for this year of Ox so he had to give them a miss :pI ordered the scallops while he ordered the Salmon.. Both were nice!What's a buffet without desserts!! Even though we were full already, we couldn't say No to the sweet treats!! Their desserts corner were full of delicious looking cakes/pastries/chocolate etcWow!!! Yummy!Rhys loved this chocolate mousse cake~!Hazelnut cake... nice too!That chocolate cake ended our Sunday brunch and we left happily with a full stomach!! (Although I felt guilty after that as I had eaten so much... haha) The Rhys & Fei Zi Photo Contest, Part 2 :)!!!! Hello everyone :D!!!!It’s been more than a month since our Photo Contest, and we have a winner already :D!!!!I knew I was in deep trouble when my Dearest Wifey went up 2-1 in our contest when she got 11 votes vs my 9 during the Week 3 theme of Old World Architecture…. I knew I had to buck up for the following weeks :P!!!! We were both so pumped up about the contest we even made a trip to the Botantic Gardens to shoot Flora & Fauna, which was the theme for Week 4 :)!After a hot afternoon of getting bitten by mosquitoes, I came up with this:My poor Wifey was bitten by even more mosquitoes, plus some bugs (we had to apply 'mopiko' for the poor girl after that :P), and here's her masterpiece :)!Initially when I saw her flower, I thought “Haha, this week I sure win!” because I thought the flower was ugly :D! Little did I know that I will end up getting thrashed with only 4 votes for myself and a whopping 11 votes for Dearest Wifey :D! The next theme that we drew for Week 5 was very interesting: What Money Can’t Buy ;)! Since it was not about any subject in particular, we were given free rein to come up with any stuff, and I decided on a picture of the sky:Flying Paper took an entirely different direction with a folded heart ;)!I think on creativity alone, the Dearest Wifey’s got an edge over me. Plus her picture was really well taken, and it ended up in another victory for her with 9 votes to 4 :D!!I realized that I was in really deep shit because I was already down by 4-1 in the total tally, and another loss will allow Flying Paper to be the outright winner! For Week 6, we drew another creative theme, “Backview”! We went around exploring the sleepy town of Toa Payoh to look for inspiration, and I ended up with a shot of this kitty:Here’s Flying Paper’s shot of The Boy With A Tight Butt ;)!This time, it was a very tight race with 8 votes for each picture! After the original deadline expired, we decided to let the next vote to be the tie-breaker…. And the vote went to my Dearest Wifey :)!!!!Haha, needless to say, she’s over the moon because besides bragging rights, she will soon be a proud owner of a sparkling new Olympus PEN E-P1, that will be ‘happily sponsored’ by me, haha…. My poor pockets :P!!!! I demand a rematch :D!!!!Even though I ended up as the ‘1st Runner-Up’ for the contest, it was definitely a most memorable contest for the two of us, what with the exploration of old colonial buildings, insects at Botanic Gardens, sneaking up on unsuspecting cats and kids, haha :D…. And of course, a Big THANK YOU for our dear friends who voted and supported our silly little contest :)!!!! You made it possible wor :D!!!! THANK YOU :)!!!!With Love,Barneysaurus The Rhys & Fei Zi Photo Contest :)!!!! Hello everyone :)!!!!It started out one lazy Sunday over lunch. Flying Paper and I each took a picture of this Japanese dessert, and started arguing over whose picture was better:The one taken by my dearest Wifey:And the one taken by yours truly:Actually, it’s not the first time we argued over who is the better photographer, but this time we decided to take things further by putting it to vote! Using Facebook as our ‘battleground’, we decided to test our photography skills over a period of 8 weeks. Since July, we have been shooting pictures according to a randomly-picked pre-defined theme. After careful selection, we will choose the picture we feel most confident about and then put it up for voting by our friends every Saturday night :)! We’re so into it we even created a set of rules for ourselves :)!- All pictures will come straight from the camera with no post-processing done. This is because we’re competing our photography skills and not photoshopping abilities, haha. . . . - All pictures will be taken by the Fujifilm F100fd, our trusty point-and-shoot compact digicam. We’ve been meaning to get a DSLR but both are too stingy, haha. . . . - We will only reveal the photographer of each picture at the end of the week-long voting so as to prevent biases- Only votes submitted through Facebook will be counted towards the final tally. This is to prevent myself from claiming “I got 1000 votes from my colleagues :)!”For the very first week, we decided to use the Japanese dessert pictures because that’s what started the whole thingy. . . . And I was thoroughly trounced :D! The final tally was 10 votes for Flying Paper and only 1 sympathy vote for me. . . . Needless to say, the dearest Wifey had a great time gloating to me about it for the whole week, haha :D. . . . I was determined to get my ‘revenge’, and so tried very hard for the second week’s theme, which was Two of a Kind:Flying Paper took a different approach to the theme:I was very happy because the final tally read 5 votes for her and 11 votes for me :)! The contest now stands at 1 win each :)!We grew very excited when we drew the theme for the 3rd week, which was Old World Architecture. We spent a whole afternoon taking lots of pictures around City Hall area, trying to compose pictures that we felt would do justice to the theme. This is what we came out with, starting with Picture A:And here’s Picture B:As of the last count, it’s a really close fight with a current tally of 9 votes for Picture A and 10 votes for Picture B! We’re both feeling damn anxious now because it’s just a day plus left to the end of voting, haha :D. . . . A big reason why we are feeling so excited about this contest is because besides bragging rights, the winner will get to win an Olympus PEN E-P1, courtesy of the ‘1st Runner-Up’:D!!We are both praying hard that we won’t have to fork the cash for the camera, haha :D. . . . For those who have been voting, a really big THANK YOU for supporting our silly little contest :D!!!! Do please keep the votes coming, thanks thanks :)!!!!With Love,Barneysaurus Our Royal Caribbean Cruise Part 2 :)! Today is Flying Paper's turn to report on the long overdue part 2 of our Royal Carribbean Trip! :PWell, that day, the ship would dock at Penang, and you had a choice whether you wanted to get off the ship and had a trip at Penang. I think visitors had around 3 to 4 hours of exploring time before the ship sailed off... So with nothing much to do, we decided to explore Penang as we heard there were yummy food there :PAfter breakfast, we waited patiently at the lobby for our queue number to be called. Visitors were divided into groups as the boat to Penang could only carry a limited number of passengers.The ship captain!!After a short ride, we reached the harbour of Penang!When we reached, there were a lot of taxi drivers, trying to get the visitors to hitch a ride. We were "bombarded" by many offers but however, Rhys and I felt rather uncomforable and the rates were a bit too expensive so we decided to WALK to our destination!!! Previously, we heard that there's a shopping mall nearby with food street also, so we decided to go there to take a look....Without realising that actually the shopping mall was quite a distance away, we just walked along the busy streets of Penang, taking in the sights and sounds...It was a hot day that day and we walked for quite some time before we finally reached the shopping mall!! As Chinese New Year was around the corner, there was a God of Fortune there! haha...We went straight to the shopping mall to enjoy the air-con and have a coffee at the George Town White Coffee shop!Rhys enjoying the coffee~!Actually we realised that there's nothing much special about the shopping centre so we decided to hit the street to look for food!! hee hee....We decided to go to one of the coffee shop to try out their char kway tiao!!Yummy!!It was nice! And quite cheap also... we shared a plate and while we were eating, we noticed an interesting sign! hahaAfter eating, we walked around and explored... Here's me posing at one of their markets..There were quite a lot of flies on top of the food they were selling -_-"We saw more food and but Rhys dun take spicy stuff, we didn't eat much (like laksa etc), so we decided to try another plate of char kway tiao again!!! :PEqually yummy!!Later, we decided that we were too tired and took taxi back to the harbour!Around the harbour areaWhen we were back at our room, we had a pleasant surprise! The room attendant had folded a towel dog!! ImpressedDinner time arrived and we went there to the restuarant. I liked their soup and dessert... hee... The main course was not really special to me, maybe I'm not a big fan of western food... Rhys, however enjoyed his steak very much (as usual)...Stayed tuned for Part 3!! =) Bao Bei’s 1st Birthday Celebration as My Wifey :D!!!! Hello everyone :D!!!! Exactly 24 years and 13 days ago, the loveliest girl in the whole wide world was born :). . . . And she goes by the name of Flying Paper :D!!!! We celebrated the actual day with the whole family, and she ended up with two big chocolate cakes for the day because her wonderful friends at her work place also surprised her with a celebration earlier in the day :)! But somehow, I ended up eating most of the chocolate cakes, haha :D….That wasn’t the end of the celebration of course ;)! We went to explore Dempsey over the weekend :)!We’ve always heard about Dempsey being the new ín’ place for dining, and since we are both lovers of Jap cuisine, decided to try out this place call Rakuichi :)We had a hard time ordering because everything on the menu looks so good :D!!!! The first thing we attacked was of course the sashimi ;). . . . Not forgetting the sushi. . . . And more sushi :)!!!!As you can see my dearest Wifey was seriously wondering if we could finish everything ;). . . . We also had some grilled fish. . . . Mushrooms :). . . . And we ended the meal with our favorite: Black Sesame ice cream :D!!!!Overall, we had a good time at Rakuichi, which scored points with its the great selection, taste, décor, and friendly service :)! Thumbs up :)!We wanted to go to the nearby Botanic Gardens for a stroll but our legs and stomachs just couldn’t take it after the very heavy meal, haha :D. . . . We ended up shopping at Orchard instead :)! There was this electronics fair going on at Takashimaya, and my dearest wifey dragged me over to have a look because she knows I’ve been eyeing a new computer. It turns out that they were offering a good trade-in price if I bring my old CPU in. Now you know you have got yourself a good wife if she is willing to go look at computer and IT stuff with you even if it’s on her birthday. But the way to tell you have a WONDERFUL wife is when she willingly travels all the way back home with you to Sembawang to pick up your CPU and then travel back to Orchard :D!!!! I must be the luckiest man alive :) To reward my lovely girl, we went to our favorite restaurant for dinner: Anugus House :D!!!!They’ve changed the starter from the previous fried-prawn thingy to this steamed/fried prawn thingy, and it taste GREAT :D! The mains were no disappointment, but we were keeping our fingers crossed when they were about to serve desserts. Vivian was telling us how wonderful their tiramisu tasted, and we were really hoping they will serve tiramisu this time. I think it was Flying Paper’s birthday wish coming true because they really did served us tiramisu :D!!!!Overall, it was a great day of beautiful memories with my dearest wifey :). . . . Hope you enjoyed it dear :)!!!!With Love,Barneysaurus :) Our Royal Caribbean Cruise Part 1 :)! Hello everyone :D!!!! Long time no see wor :D!!!!Flying Paper and I was walking around in Harbor Front the other day, and since it was a long weekend, we decided to hop on a cruise onboard the Royal Caribbean :D!!!!Haha, actually we went on our cruise way back in January, but I only got down to blogging it today because of other serious commitments, such as playing Fire Emblem on Wii work :)! Anyway, standby for a barrage of photos :D!!!!First up, a lovely photo of my lovely wifey, keke :). . . . After checking in, we didn’t waste any time and made a mad rush for the buffet lunch because we are hungry and greedy Singaporeans, haha :D. . . . Now I must say that we are usually not very impressed by free buffet lunches because the variety and taste are usually so so only. . . . But the food onboard The Legend of The Seas really rocked :D!! Our first meal and already I was impressed by the fried chicken which taste like an improved version of KFC, plus it’s de-boned. ROCKS :D!!!!I wanted to stuff myself silly with even more food, but wifey dragged me away because I was getting fat, and also because we had to take part in the fire drill :)!After that we went about exploring the ship, which was really, really huge! Check out the pool deck:For those who prefer a indoor dip, there’s also a indoor pool :)!There’s even a rock wall, though we never tried because our legs will get wobbly, haha :D. . . . The best thing was the weather, which was really good throughout our cruise :)!Not long after, Flying Paper decided to go for a jog because she claimed that she ate too much ;)!After that she even went for a game of golf :D!!!!Being lazy me, all I wanted to do was eat. For the record, I finished both ‘oddly-shaped’ chocolate cones by myself, haha :D. . . . I have no idea what’s with the following photo, heh :)One of the highlights of the cruise was the gala dinner, which falls on the first night of our cruise :)! We’re required to be formally dressed for the dinner, and it feels like prom all over again sia :D!Hmmm, maybe it feels like prom again because I wore the same suit as I did for the prom! Eh, wifey, if you are reading this, I really don’t mind a well-tailored Hugo Boss for my birthday you know :)? Muahaha :D. . . . Now here’s a tip: There’s this ‘My Time’ dining option for Royal Caribbean cruises, where you get to choose your own dining schedule instead of the two pre-defined time-slots arranged by your travel agency. Besides getting a more flexible dining timing, the added advantage is that the likelihood of you getting a romantic two-seater is higher :D! That’s what happened to Flying Paper and I throughout the cruise, heh :). . . . Let’s check out the menu :D!I wasn’t too hopeful about cruise dinners after our experience at Star Cruise, but I was glad that Royal Caribbean was able to change our perception :D! The food, to put it simply, was fantastic. Check out the shrimp cocktail:Flying Paper’s seabass :)!I went for the escargot (DELICIOUS :D!), and the beef filet:The filet was fantastic, but I thought the portion wasn’t really filling. You can thus imagine how happy I was when the staff brought a sirloin just to fill me up :D!I was so full by the time I was done with the steak, but there’s always room for dessets, keke :). . . . I went for my favorite chocolate ice cream while wifey went for the soufflé :)!By the end of it, I was so seriously full :D!! In contrast, my dearest wifey was still the perfect picture of poise, keke :). . . . And that about wraps it up for the first day of our cruise :)! Standby for Part 2 :)!With Love,Barneysaurus :)! Happy Valentine Day Yesterday was Valentine's day... Wherever we walked, we could see couples dressed up nicely, gals holding flowers/bears from their boyfriends, or their boyfriends "unwillingly" holding these gifts for them.. haha..So how about married couples? Do they spend as much effort as those courting couples? Mmm...I'm glad to say that Rhys still does!!! ^_^Yesterday he surprised me by booking a hotel room for Valentine's day! He packed the needed toiletries and my clothes in his bag while I was still sleeping in the morning... However, later I realised something was fishy when I realised my toothbrush was missing when we had finished our early lunch at home...Later, when we went out, I realised that he had booked a room at Hotel Intercontinental! Yeah, a pleasant surprise!!!Our celebration was a movie treat by me... haha.. We watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". It's about a man who was born in his eighties and was aging backwards.... The man was becoming younger.. This may sound good, doesn't it? But it wasn't really good.... Imagine watching your loved ones getting old and die... your beloved's pain of watching you becoming a baby, instead of growing old together.........It was a good show as it made you ponder over some stuff that you will face in real life.....We had also a nice Jap dinner too before the show... The show lasted about 3 hours so we decided to have an early dinner, then watched the movie.. hee...By the way, we also saw something amusing.. It's the special offer by Duck Tour.. See the range of actions you can do to earn the discounts.. wooo..... U want a $8 discount?? haha....Happy Valentine's day!! =) Our First CNY as a Married Couple :D!!!! A VERY HAPPY “NIU” YEAR TO EVERYONE AH :D!!!! HUAT HUAT HUAT AH :D!!!!First of all, have to say to a ‘PAISEH’ to everyone for not updating for so long :P! We have been kept occupied by a lot of stuff, which we will blog about in time to come :)! Today, we will report on our very first CNY as a married couple :D!You can tell how prepared Flying Paper and I were for CNY: we were both dressed in auspicious red during our Reunion Dinner :D!I wanted to show some photos of the steamboat we had, but decided not to because my sister-in-law don’t want to be ‘exposed’ in our blog, keke :)…. Here’s a photo with my In-laws instead :)!We went to the River Ang Pow at Marina after lunch, and was so sian because unlike the previous years, they only open at 6pm this year :P! Undeterred, Flying Paper and I made another trip down a few days later, haha :D….We also hosted a mini CNY Wii party at our place last weekend :D! It was an opportunity for us to thank Peishan, Peiyun, Su Fen and Lam for helping us out on our Big Day, keke :)My dearest wifey demonstrating how to play :)!!We got a sadistic kick when we saw how our friends struggled at certain games, keke :). . . . One of our friends, Peiyun whom we shouldn’t name, also managed to create a ‘historic’ score in Wii Fit, muahahah :D!!!! No photos, unless someone is willing to bribe us :) Anyway, what’s a CNY party without Yu Sheng :D?!?!?Preparation in progress :)And then we were ready :D!!!!It was a really fun afternoon, though we had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning up afterwards, keke ;)…. Here’s wishing everyone a most wonderful, prosperous, and enjoyable Year of the Ox ah :D!!!!With Love,Flying Paper & Barneysaurus :) Happy 2009 to Everyone :D!!!! Flying Paper & I would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a very Happy 2009 :)! May it be a fruitful year for all, let’s all work hard and jia you :)!!!!This is the first New Year we are celebrating as a married couple, and we started the year with something we have not done together before: We woke up super duper early for a New Year run :D!!!! I think for those sporty couples, a morning run is not much of a big deal, but when you are talking about lazy couples like us, waking up early just for a run is nothing short of a miracle :D! In fact, we were wondering the night before if we would back out of the run when we wake up, haha :D…. Luckily, we didn’t, and it was a great feeling having the wind against your face, the sun on your cheeks, the scent of fresh vegetation and of course our hands held tightly together as we went forward in unison :). . . . We are toying with the idea of making this a weekly event so that we can be trim and fit, hope this plan works out well :)! Once again, a Happy New Year to everyone wor :D!!!!With Love,Flying Paper & Barneysaurus :)! The Southern Ridges Adventure On one fine Sunday, 2 lazy pigs suddenly became "hardworking" and decided to go on The Southern Ridges Adventure!!! These 2 lazy pigs woke up early that day to prepare their picnic lunch to bring there..hee...Preparation in process The Southern Ridges is a 9-kilometre walk starting from HarbourFront station and ends at Kent Ridge Park . However, we decided to start from Kent Ridge Park so that we can end our journey at the air-conditioned HarbourFront!! :P Our choice ended up to be a good one as by walking the reverse direction, we were walking downhill most of the time so less tiring.. hahaKent Ridge Park!The walk started.....We spotted a Canon!Next up is to walk towards Canopy Walk and Hort Park!Walking....And finally, we reached Hort Park!!Hort Park is a gardening hub and we found this place rather interesting =) This park is also one hot spot for pre-wedding photography!! Should have come here for photgraphy if I know this place earlier.. hee heeWe saw glass houses!!Some beautiful flowers in the glass housesTinman!Colourful windmillsAt about noon, we had to take a break from the long walk and had our picnic lunch!! HahaNext up, we saw the Alexandra Arch which at night, the bridge will dazzle with colour-changing LED lights.Henderson waves ahead!Wavy bridgeAfter so long, we reached Marang trail!! The Marang trail leads us to the cable car station at the Jewel Box on Mount Faber to HarbourFront station...Cable carThe start of Marang Trail which is a short walk through the forested areaAnd finally, and finally, we were out of Marang Trail!!! By then, we were already quite exhausted and our legs were tired!!Happy!!!Yeah, we completed the Southern Ridges Adventure!! Hooray!! Stacia's Baby Shower + 3rd Anniversary Celebration :D!!!! Hello everyone :D!!!!I’ve been trying to upload our wedding day express highlights to YouTube without success :P!!!! Haha, think maybe the file size too big already, will try again when I have more time to spare, haha :). . . . And we bear good news in this post :D! Can you recall us attending a wedding show at Marina Mandarin with Ker Peng and Ivan last October? We are pleased to announce here that the happy couple have just celebrated the birth of their first-born, Stacia, in a super duper nice baby shower where I gorged myself with too much chocolate ice cream :D!Ker Peng and Ivan, if you are reading this: I wasn’t trying to scare your cute baby, really :)!Click here for Reporter Flying Paper’s account of the baby shower :)! Once again, a big CONGRATS to Ivan and Ker Peng wor :)!!!!After the baby shower, Flying Paper and I went to celebrate our 3-year anniversary (of officially being an item :)!) at our favorite restaurant, Angus House :D!We really enjoy dining at this place because the décor, service, and ambience is simply fantastic! But of course, the bigger reason why we love the place is the Food! Check out the attention they gave just for the starters!For me, the main attraction is definitely the steaks :P!Maybe it’s just me, but I think the taste is much better than Lawry’s or Morton’s, heh. . . . I couldn’t resist taking a close up :)!But of course, the biggest reason why I always have a great dining experience there is because of the loveliest girl who is there by my side :). . . . My dear, it’s been more than 2 months since our Big Day, but I’ve never stopped counting my blessings, haha :). . . . Looking forward to our January mini-holiday :)!!!!With Love,Barneysaurus :)! Our Wedding - Part 5 "The Wedding Dinner" :)! Hello everyone :D!!!!Today is the last installment of our wedding day report, and I shall cover what happened during the wedding dinner :D!!!!First, let me bring you through our ballroom :)!Our ballroom backdrop :)The solemnization table :D!Tabletop settings :)And of course, our rings :). . . . A very big Thank You to Florence of Impact Creative for the beautiful wedding theme and the fabulous wedding flavors :D!!!!Outside: the reception table :D!Our guest book :)!Most of our guests were very punctual. . . . THANK YOU :D!!!!Finally, it was almost time for the wedding to start :D! Our emcees, Peishan and Lucas in action :)!Our parents preparing to witness our solemnization :). . . . And then it was almost time for the march-in :D!!!! After doing so many military weddings for my friends, it’s finally my turn with my dearest Flying Paper, heh :). . . . If anyone is interested in the Men-In-Uniform, do let know, muahahah :D. . . . While my swordsmen were lining up along the aisle, Flying Paper and I was feeling so so nervous outside the ballroom :D! We were really worried we will trip or something, haha :D. . . . So we grabbed each other’s hands as tight as possible, and stepped into the limelight :)!Fortunately, we managed to get onto the stage without any mishap, haha :). . . . We were very fortunate to my Mr Chia, one of the most popular JPs in Singapore, to officiate our wedding :)!!!!And so we exchanged our vows :). . . . . . . . exchanged our rings :). . . . . . . . and of course locked our lips :)! So shy, haha :D. . . . Then we cut the cake, which the manager told us can be kept for a year wor :D!A snapshot of our guests :)!Barely two courses into the dinner, and we had to pause our dinner to change to our evening attire :)!In the meantime, our guests are kept entertained with the highlights video clip, the one with me dancing really badly, haha :D. . . . And then we made our entrance again :D!!!!I had to do the champagne popping, and it was incredibly embarrassing because I had such a hard time doing it :D!!!! It was one of the longest 30-seconds in my life, and you can’t believe how relieved Flying Paper and me was when I finally succeeded, keke :). . . . Champagne pouring time :D!The love toast :). . . . And of course the Yum Seng session :D!We took turns to give a short speech :)! I wanted to sing ‘Ji Pa Ban’ but Flying Paper told me she will snap my neck if I did, muahahaha :D!!!!And then we went around taking pictures with all our friends :D!To encourage early attendance, my clever wifey came up with the brilliant idea of a lucky draw for early-birds :D! For the record, 90% of our guests arrived before 7:30pm wor :D! here’s the lovely girl drawing the lucky lot :)We think the happiest lucky draw winner was Junkai, even though he only won our cheapo Akira DVD player, heh ;). . . . Check out his grin :D!Before we knew it, the dinner was ending already, and we lined up outside the ballroom to thank our guests for gracing the most important day of our lives :)I was very fortunate not to get saboed so much (amazing considering how crazy my friends are. Ah Sai, you reading this :D?). There was still the few glasses of red wine (?) though!And when they really wanted to sabo me, I just try my best to ‘siam’, heh ;)After lots of photos, handshakes and hugs, all our friends and relatives made their way home, but I was not lonely because standing next to me with her hand in mine, is the love of my life :). . . . To my Dearest Wifey: No journey is too tough as long as you are by my side my dear girl :)! And this concludes the wedding report of our wedding day :D! Stay tuned for the wedding video clip which we will put up soon, as well as the full report of our Honeymoon Adventure in Japan :D!!!!With Love,Flying Paper & Barneysaurus :) Our Wedding - Part 4 "The Tea Ceremony" After the photoshoot, we headed back to Rhys's house for the tea ceremony. As our bridal car arrived at his house, his nephew came and opened the door for us. An ang bao for him! Haha...When we entered the house, the elders are supposed to hide in a room to avoid seeing the bride. So off we went to our bedroom first to take photos!Later, we were asked to eat tang yuan which they said symbolised union!Next up was the "jumping and rolling on the bed" by his nephew!! Haha, he seemed a bit reluctant to roll and jump as a lot of eyes were on him.Finally it's time for the tea ceremony!Rhys had a lot of relatives on his side so we spent quite a long time serving tea to the relatives as well as being served by the younger relatives! Haha, giving and receiving ang baos were quite an experience...Groom's family!Before heading back to my house, I had to take out my veil and changed into my red kua!!Rhys had a hard time taking out the veil!My kua!Us in bridal car!Walking towards my house..At my house, we had to eat a bowl of mee sua and an egg.. so full! hahaWe proceeded with the tea ceremony but as not a lot of relatives came to my house, our tea ceremony here was quite fast, hee hee.Us with my family!After the tea ceremony, we had to head for the hotel to rest for a while and to prepare for the wedding dinner. Our jie meis and xiong dis then left on their own to go home to prepare for the night too!The group photo before we met again at wedding dinner!Our wedding dinner next!!!! Our Wedding - Part 3 "The Outdoor Photoshoot" After Rhys finally braved through all the tortures, we left happily for my favourite part of my morning session - The Outdoor Photoshoot!!The photographer and videographer suggested The Bottle Tree Park as it was near our home and it was a beautiful place. So off we went!!My dad sheltering me into the car!Us in the bridal car...We were really glad that the weather was fine as the day before my wedding was a rainy day. Was happy that the weather was nice for photo-taking although it started to turn hot later.. hee..When we reached The Bottle Tree Park, we started to take photos! Let the pictures do the talking for a while...Anyone wants to buy 4D? hahaMy bouquet!Pulling Rhys's ears! hee heeThe gang in black...Nice group photo!See how hard they tried to jump high.. haha..My long train.. hee hee...Walking hand in hand....The nice bridge...We were really lucky on that day cos a group of people have booked a part of the place for a special event and they decorated the entrance with balloons and the bride with ribbons. Having thick skin, we actually borrowed their balloons for photo-taking! Hee hee... I like the balloons!!Of course, in Bottle Tree Park, we couldn't miss taking photo with the Bottle Tree!I looked tall here.. hahaFinally, it's time for the toss-the-bouquet session!! Haha, before my wedding, the jie meis excluding peiyun have decided to let peiyun catch the bouquet as it's our wish to let her find her prince charming soon...Getting ready to throw the bouquetTa-dah!! Peiyun knew that she has been "sabo" to catch the bouquet since everyone pushed her to catch the flowers.. haha... Hope u find ur prince charming soon ya =)It was a fun session and a tiring one since the sun was shining so brightly.. haha... Around 1030am, we left for the tea ceremony in Rhys's house!To the next destination! Our Wedding - Part 2 "The Bridal Challenges" Hello everyone :D!!!! I am typing this with trembling fingers: today, I shall recount the horrible tasks the horrible sisters made me and my 兄弟s went through before I get to kiss my lovely Flying Paper :D!!!!The easiest task in the morning was waiting for Cosmo to open the bridal car door for me, and I think he was smiling broadly because of the big ang pow he received :D!And I have to thank my lovely兄弟s for waking up so early just to get ‘sabo’ed with me, haha :D. . . . Some quick intros from left to right :D!1) Lucas: My Best Man, he's my best buddy ever since we slept together in the jungles of Brunei back in 1999, muahahaha.... Simply the bestest friend one can get ;)! He was the overall coordinator cum emcee for my Big Day, dun play play! 2) Jeffrey: My ‘lover’ from uni, we shared many memorable memories in the toilets of NTU that I shall not reveal here, heh.... I wanted him to be my head coord for photo taking and also the drinking session because he got the ah beng look, but he claims he can’t drink -__- ”. . . . 3) Koh Yang Yang: My ‘lover’ since our days in poly, he is understandably the most heart-broken person when he heard I'm getting married but not to him, heh. Because he has a big-ass MPV, he ferried the lovely and beautiful Jie Meis around, heh.... 4) Lam: None of the above brothers dared to flirt with the lovely Jie Meis because one of them is Lam’s girlfriend wor :D! Keke, because of his privileged position we thought we would have an easier time getting through the bridal gates, keke :).... We bravely marched on, unaware of the ‘terrors’ that were waiting for us. . . . The ‘terrors’:The first task was to complete this Chinese tongue twister in a super duper short time!Despite our best efforts, I ended up looking like this a few seconds later:For some unknown reasons my兄弟s were quite happy to see me getting punnished -__- ”. . . .It was the ‘Love Apple Challenge’ after that!We had to grab a bite of the apple, which was suspended really high up in the air, without using chairs or hands! After fumbling initially, we figured out how to carry out the task ;)!Then for some other unknown reasons, the sisters wanted us to perform a song and dance, which we gladly obliged because we have thick skin, hehe :)Acutally it was not as easy as it sounds because they wanted me to show some skin too. Tsk tsk, youngsters nowadays :D!!!!Then it was time for the horrible horrible bittergourd drink that they so ‘painstakingly’ prepared for us :(. . . . Some of us handled it better :). . . . Some did not handle it as well. . . . And finally, for some it was pure torture :D!!!!Seriously, the jie meis really have it good. Not only did they get to sabo us, they get to pocket lots of ang pow too :(. . . . In fact, they made me top up the amount just so as to satisfy their insatiable Greed :(. . . . After taking my money, they still want to see me suffering :(!Kids, please don’t try this at home!Luckily, I have the most wonderful mother-in-law who put an end to our suffering, keke :). . . . And finally we are in :D!!!!But wait, why was the sisters blocking our way again :(????It turned out that they engaged our singing and dancing so much they wanted to be ‘entertained’ again -__- ”. . . .There was also a ‘Love Pledge’ that I had to say in Mandarin, no problem :D!!!!After all the challenges, I was finally in :). . . . . . . . and I knew all the ‘sabo’ was worth it because of my lovely Flying Paper :). . . . Of course I couldn’t resist kissing my beautiful bride :)!!!!I am the luckiest man in the world :). . . . Next up: Our adventures at The Bottle Tree Park :D!!!! Stayed tuned :)!!!!With Love,Barneysaurus :)!!!! Our Wedding - Part 1 "The Morning Preparation" Hi everyone, we will be reporting our actual day wedding for the next few posts!! Hee, this post will be about the morning preparation for the gatecrash.Venue: Bride's houseTime: 530am to 8amPeople involved: Brides's family and the Jie Meis!The morning started off with my family waking up early at around 530am. Actually, to my surprise and to many others too, I didn't feel nervous at all.. Haha.. felt quite calm even when my make-up artist (MUA), photographer and videographer came...My Jie Meis arrived shortly at around 7am and started to prepare for the gatecrash. Meanwhile, I was being transformed from a maid-look alike little girl to a pretty bride (at least to myself :P)Transformation in process Curious Jie Meis Girls' Power!! Putting on the veil Well, for the rest, it was my Jie Meis in action. My Jie Meis were preparing the materials for the gatecrash while I sat in my room. No fun one cos I wasn't supposed to go out.. They were preparing the punishment!! If they failed their task, they would be made to drink a mixture of bittergourd, lemon and lime juice!!! Marrying me is not easy k.. haha... Sufen cutting the bittergourd... see the lemon?? keke The final product!! Anyone wants to try?? :PMy sister and Peishan preparing one of the tasks..Rhys & Xiong Dis, beware!!!! Stay tuned to see how Rhys and his Xiong Dis braved through the tasks!! Hee hee, funny funny!! Back from our Honeymoon :)!!!! Hello everyone :D! Yes yes, we are finally back from our honeymoon :D! Although we spent 12 days in Japan, it didn’t felt like it was enough and we are now suffering from pre-Monday Blues, haha :D. . . . We wanna eat the yummy yummy sushi again :D!!!!Just in case you think we will stop writing our mushy-mushy-lovey-dovey rubbish after our wedding, you are wrong :D!!!! There’s a whole lot of posts and pictures coming up, but we’ll need some time to prepare them, haha :D. . . . In the meantime, here’s the pre-dinner video (done by the wonderful folks at Visio Workz) we showed on our wedding, hope you will enjoy it too :)! With Love,Flying Paper & Barneysaurus :)! My recollections of the Big Day :D!!!! Hello everyone :D!!!! I find it unbelievable, but it’s have actually been four days since we got married :D! Just like what flying Paper did yesterday, I’m gonna recollect what happened on our Big Day today :)!!!!The super duper busy day actually started 24 hours earlier! There was really a lot of things to settle the day before, such as the collection of gowns and bridal car décor, and since Flying Paper and I can’t meet each other according to Chinese customs, I enlisted the help of my bestest buddy (ever!) and his wonderful gal :)!Introducing Joyce and Lucas :)!Seriously, without the help of these two wonderfuls I couldn’t have managed with the hectic tasks on the Eve! Buddy, I know you are reading this: I will do my best to look for a Japanese D300 brochure for you when I’m in Japan :)!I thought I will drift into dreamland relatively easy because of all the running around I did, but I have no idea how wrong I was! I went to bed at 11pm, but was so excited I only slept at around 2am I guess. . . . Then I woke up at 4am and couldn’t fall back to sleep thereafter. I was filled with memories of my courtship of Flying Paper, and all the nitty-gritty details of the wedding, even the weather because according to the weatherman, there were supposed to be thunderstorms over the weekend. You can thus understand that I’m incredible envious of Wifey Paper, who had no problems whatsoever with her beauty sleep :D!Finally, the morning arrived, and I was most thankful because it was the most lovely bright and sunny morning :D! My dearest groomsmen, Yang Yang, Jeffrey, Lam and of course Lucas arrived really early, and after a quick briefing, we set off to Flying Paper’s home :)! The bridesmaids were there waiting for us, and I bet the evil beautiful姐妹 s had a great time subjecting us to humiliating acts and of course grabbing lots of $$$, muahahaha ;). . . . We cleared their challenges, and I know all the ‘torture’ and the bittergroud juice was worth it because when I opened the bridal door, I saw the most beautiful angel waiting for me in her snow-white gown :)What happened after that was really a big blur: the photo-taking and videography session at Bottle Tree Park, and of course the tea-ceremonies at our respective parents’ places, during which I finally get to call uncle and auntie ‘pa’ and ‘ma’ now, haha :D. . . . And finally we were off to Swissotel Stamford :)! Again, it was a big rush as there were several rehearsals to go through and meetings to attend. To make matters even more complicated, there were several last minute behind-the-scene hiccups which almost gave me a heart attack! Luckily though, I had the best team around to help me out:1) The video montage didn’t work initially due to compatibility issues with my laptop! Fortunately, the wonderful Chris of Visio Workz, our videographer, was most prompt in attending to us and even sent a DVD player down all the way from her office! O must also praise the resourcefulness of Yang Yang and Jeffrey, my great 兄弟s, who managed to work around the compatibility issues and got the montage playing on the lappy!2) As usual, seating arrangements were a major headache! Due to several last minute additional guests as well as friends who couldn’t make it at the last minute, my receptionists had to do plenty of juggling. Kudos to the wonderful team of Peiyun, Sufen, Yang Zi, Nicole and Desmond :)!3) I actually only confirmed my sword bearers 2 weeks before the event, and it’s amazing how the guys managed to do such a great job despite the short notice! A special word of thanks to Uzi, Thorns, Hiszoid, Forex, Celtic, Tonguesten, Mimic, Bono, and not forgetting Bubble (for offering to rehearse as my ‘bride’ :D) and Fido (for the coordination!). You guys rocked!4) Ningjia’s help as the bridesmaid was invaluable: I lost count of the times the poor girl had to scramble up and down from the suite to the lobby and ballroom to ensure our parents find their way and also to bring all the items needed for the wedding are in place. Haha, now that’s what I call a great FYP mate :)!5) I couldn’t involve my childhood friends in the critical parts of the wedding preparation as they were either heavily involved in parenting (Yanxing), or partying (Evan). But when I needed their help the most, they didn’t definitely didn’t’ shy away: a big Thank You to Yanxing and Evan for helping me down the red wine :)!6) Despite having little or no prior experience, Lucas and Peishan gave us a big ‘YES’ when we approached them to be our emcees for the evening! I am most thankful to them for the wonderful job they did, and also for not subjecting us to any embarrassing games during the dinner, heh ;)7) Once again, to Lucas, my Best Man :)! The Man helped me in every aspect of the wedding, and despite suffering near heart-attacks as I did, still had the presence of mind to ensure everything was smoothly executed. I seriously have no idea what more I can ask for from such a great pal, especially after a ‘special gift’ that came from him, heh ;)8) Besides being armed with the bestest Best Man and Team, we are also most thankful for having chose Swissotel Stamford because they provided us with the most wonderful coordinators :D! Kudos to Gladys, our wedding coordinator for being patient with all our enquiries and requests from Day One till our Big Day, and to Hai Tao, our wedding concierge, for ensuring that everything was running smooth on throughout the dinner :)!9) Finally, to all the wonderful people who were there with us as we said ‘I Do’, and to you, for reading and supporting this blog and being with us as we chronicled our wedding journey :)It’s been an incredible one-year preparation, and like what Flying Paper mentioned, I also feel a bit sad that the wedding has been completed! But looking into Flying Paper’s eyes, slipping our rings into each others’ fingers and exchanging our matrimonial vows, I know that we have so much more in our life to look forward to :). . . . Our life has just began, we've finally found each other :). . . . With Love,Barneysaurus Honeymoon at the land of the Rising Sun :)! My feelings of My Big Day!! My Big Day is officially over on 14 Sept 2008. One year of planning has finally come to an end, a feeling of relief but a bit of sadness too as all the wedding preparations have been fun and exciting...So what happened on 14 Sept 2008? Well, amazingly and surprisingly, I managed to fall asleep the night before and didn't feel nervous at all in the morning. I changed into my PJ and waited patiently for all the important people to arrive - my jie meis, my make-up artist (MUA), my photographer and videographer...The real action started when Rhys and his gang of brothers arrived for the gatecrush. I heard a lot of laughter and noises when I was in the bedroom. I really missed a lot of actions!! Must wait for the video already, haha...I was actually quite calm when the groom finally made his way in.. but I also felt touched that Rhys braved through all the "tortures" and tests to make his way to me...The next exciting part was the outdoor shots! We took our shots at Bottle Tree Park, thankfully for the nice weather, we managed to take a lot of shots! The jie meis and brothers had managed to make the photos more lively and meaningful!!! Hee, can't wait for the photos to be out!!!The tea ceremony began at around 11am at Rhys's house, then my house.... After which, we headed to the hotel to have a short break. Rhys was really poor thing as he had only a short time to change into his uniform, and later he had to proceed to the ballroom to rehearse with the rest of the people - swordbearers, Emcees and receptionists. I only had to stay in my suite and waited for my MUA to arrive... haha... the bride had a easy time :PI was really really nervous when it was time for the first march-in.. I gripped Rhys's hands real tightly and was afraid of tripping... When the first march-in song started playing, the door swung open after a short while and we were marching in!! I was told that I looked really nervous during the march-in and didn't really smile.. Aiyo, the photos won't look nice liao..Rose petals were thrown and I saw many happy faces around.. hee... The solemnisation began and later the dinner started.. Overall, I had a wonderful wedding with the great help from our wedding concierge, Hao Tao! Till today, I still feel like my wedding just happened yesterday and everything was like a dream... I still can't believe that I'm married now!!!My life has just began, I finally found someone..... 3 Things About Myself Part 1038 Yes yes my dear readers, in less than 10 hours’ time, I will be on my way to Flying Paper’s place to receive her as my bride, and in less than 24 hours’ time, we will be exchanging vows as husband and wife :)…. It really feels surreal that just 1130 days ago, we have never spoken a word to each other! And now here we are, counting down to the last few hours before we get to say “I do :)”. . . . You are probably puzzled by the title of this post. I mean, what in the world does “3 Things About Myself Part 1038” means??!?! Well, when I first started my courtship of Flying Paper, I started sending her emails on a daily basis to tell her more about myself. I have no idea how it happened, but I ended up writing all 1038 emails just like that! I think Flying Paper is amazing because she’s not bored to tears by my boring emails, haha :). . . . So my dear readers, today I’m going to be selfish and dedicate this blog entry entirely to my dearest one and only one ok :)? Here it goes!=================================================================================My Dearest Yi Dian Ding Number One & Only One Super Duper Silly Little Choocooloo Sweet Sweet Fei Fei Lao Shi Oto Mushroom Head Ban Bao Bei :D!!!!Haha, for today’s entry, I’m going to do a photo essay of ALL the events we went through in our wedding preparations :). . . . Are you ready :D? Here it goes :D!Our wedding started from 11 September 2007, when I proposed to you and you said “ok, ok lah :D!”We then started our hotel hunt, starting from Raffles. . . . To Marina Mandarin :). . . . To Amara Sanctuary :). . . . To Traders :). . . . To Goodwood Park :). . . . Before we finally settled on Swissotel Stamford :D!!!!. . . . Actually we selected Stamford way back in September, but we just couldn’t resist all the good food in bridal shows, haha :D. . . . Come to think of it, we also selected Precious Moments as our bridal studio way back in September :)! You were so excited when we went for the gown selections :). . . . And we were even more gan cheong when the time came for the actual shoot :)!Fortunately the shoot was so well done :). . . . So tiring, but we were so happy with the results :)!!!!In the mean time, we went for our food tasting :). . . . Selected our florist and wedding card invites :)!Celebrated your birthday :). . . . Celebrated Christmas :). . . . And even ran a marathon :D!!!!Before we know it, it was time for our Guo Da Li :). . . . And our An Chuang :). . . . And of course our ROM :). . . . And I’m looking forward to the moment when I slip on my ring on you and yours on mine :)....Bao bei, me may not be the most perfect person in the world, but me will always strive to be the best person for you yah :)? Just like what I promised on 11 September 2005, me is gonna 带一辈子的幸福给你 ok :)?With Love,Your Yi Da Ding Oto Pig :)!!!!1 day more to the day when we say “I do” :). . . . My last day as a Miss! Today is the last day as a Miss, tomorrow I'll become a Mrs already. So nervous!!So what have I done today?Well, I've started the morning doing my massage at my beauty salon. Hee....Then I went to wash my hair and lastly do my nails... keke... A day of pampering!!Now, I'm typing this entry with butterflies in my stomach and I realise I still have quite a lot of stuff to do! Argh, gan cheong!!Hope tomorrow will be a day with good weather and the wedding be a beautiful one!!! I'm still behaving like a kid but I'm getting married tomorrow! The feeling is so weird!!Wonder what is Rhys doing now?? hee hee.. gonna log off now, bye!!!!!!!!!!! =) Our last date as boyfriend & girlfriend Today is Flying Paper's reporting time! Hee, due to traditions, we are not supposed to meet on the eve of the wedding so today is the last day of us meeting before the wedding!!If you have followed our post, Barney confessed to me 3 years ago at Bishan Sakae Sushi. So today as our last date as boyfriend/girlfriend, we decide to go back to the same place to have lunch!Us posing at the entrance!This is the before and after photo of our meal.. hahaAfter our full meal, we decide to do something special for this special date.. So we went to this place at Bishan...Colourful paint... guess what are we going to do?? hahaWe are going to paint a picture all by ourselves. Hee, actually we have thought of doing this for a long time but a bit embarrassed as usually the customers there are kids. However, today there's fewer people and we decide to try it no matter what. So we choose a nice picture and start to get down to work.Rhys seriously painting....Almost done....Here's the finished product!!nice??Just 2 more days to our Big Day. The next time I see Rhys will be this Sunday already!! So nervous!!! =D Our An Chuang aka 安床 :D!!!! They always say time flies, and I totally agree with that statement! Exactly 3 years ago, I confessed my feelings to Flying Paper , and exactly a year ago, I proposed! (click here for Flying Paper’s account of my proposal :). . . . )And now, we are just 3 days away from our Big Day :). . . . Time flies :D!We held our An Chuang, aka安床 ceremony yesterday after months of advanced preparation! 安床, very much like the 过大礼, is a traditional Chinese wedding custom to bestow good luck and blessings for the newly-wed couple :). 安床 in particular, is to pave a life of good fortune for the couple, and also to bless the couple with cute little babies, haha :D. . . . So what do you need for 安床 :)? Firstly, you need to get a new bed :)! Being the slob I am, I was originally toying with the idea of sticking to my smelly set of bed and pillows (they are still comparatively new at just 5 years old :D!), but decided to follow tradition and got a brand new bed after spending months hunting with my dearest Flying Paper :)! We also bought this really cute bridal quilt set from Bliss Collection to complete the look, haha :D. . . . Here’s the bed before the start of the ceremony :)!Haha, the eagle-eyed would have noticed our wedding portrait :D!!!! Instead of the more traditional big-assed portrait, Flying Paper and I opted for a more modern 3-in-1 portrait instead :)!The next most important element for安床 is to find a person of exceptional good fortune to do up the bed for you :)! I was very honored and fortunate to have my 2nd Auntie and her hubby to help me out for this task, because they are probably the folks with the best fortune I know :D! At the same time, I was also feeling very paiseh because they had to sweat it out to get the job done, haha :D. . . . Here are the pictures of them in action :)! Firstly, setting the bed sheet. . . . The laying of quilt, pillows and bolster :)!The finishing touches: adding the quilt runner and the ‘Fate coins’ at the corners of the bed :). . . . And of course, the laying of the lucky items which includes the oranges, the ‘fa’ cake, longans and other auspicious items :)!The completed bed after the安床 ceremony :)!Once again, a big thank you to my 2nd Auntie and Uncle for generously sparing us their time and effort :)!!!! Now all I need are my nephews to roll around on the bed on my wedding day to bless us with cute babies, muahahaha :D. . . . Anyway, since Flying Paper couldn’t be around for the 安床 as she was working, I shall end this post with a picture of us at a recent dinner, courtesy of my Best Man, Lucas :D!If you need a good photographer, just let me know and I’ll pass you his contacts, haha :D. . . . Do check back this blog on the eve of our Big Day for a special Double Post :D! See ya :D!!!!With Love,Barneysaurus3 more days to our Big Day :)! Our ROM :D!!!! Hello everyone :D!!!!Today, I have this earth-shattering news that I need to tell everyone: Flying Paper and I can’t wait any further, and have decided to get married earlier :D!!!!Muahaha, just kidding :D! Our Big Day is still scheduled on 14 Sept, but we were at ROM yesterday to do our Statutory Declaration and collect our Certificate of Marriage :)! Usually people go to the Registry of Marriage to solemnize their marriage, but it’s a little bit different for us because we are holding the solemnization during our wedding dinner itself :)! For that to be possible, we sourced for our own Justice of Peace, and also pre-collected the documents for him to sign during the dinner :)The crowd at ROM in the morning (can you spot a familiar face in the picture :)????):We had to prepare a consent form that was signed by our JP and also bring along our witnesses and our ICs for verification :D!I was so nervous the night before I had difficulty falling asleep again :D! Hope the eye-bags won’t show up during our Big Day :D!And finally it was our turn for the Statutory Declaration :D! I even took a video of Flying Paper to serve as evidence, keke :). . . .By the way, the registrar said I looked very familiar when we went over to his counter :D! Flying Paper immediately pulled my ears and asked if I got bring girls to ROM before, haha :D. . . . Of course not hor :D! I am very good boy one :D! Muahaha :D. . . .Although it was a very short event, the ceremony was very special to me because after accompanying my friends to their ROM so many times, it was finally my turn with the love of my love :). . . . Oh man, I think I will definitely have trouble falling asleep the night before my Big Day :D!Keke, next up will be a post of our 安床 ceremony :D! Stayed tuned :D!!!!With Love,Barneysaurus4 more days to Our Big day :)! Our Guo Da Li aka 过大礼:D!!!! Hello everyone :D!!!! Today, your friendly wedding reporter will bring you the full coverage of our Guo Da Li :D!!!!Now what exactly is Guo Da Li, aka 过大礼? Frankly speaking I had no idea what was it about until the run-up to the wedding, haha :D. . . . It’s actually a traditional Chinese custom where the two families exchange bridal items to symbolize their blessings for the couple and also for good luck (I think :D!) :)! Our families actually discussed the items to be exchanged a few months back when I formally requested for Flying Paper’s hand in marriage (so traditional wor :D!), and so armed with my ‘matchmaker’ (my cousin actually :D!), I went forth with the bridal gifts yesterday :)!The first up are the items from Barneysaurus’ side :):It includes the very important Dragon and Phoenix candles (symbolizes the couple :)!), oranges, wine, and of course the very important dowry :)!!!! We also had a special ang pow for changing diapers (symbolizes birth and babies for the couple :D!), and also another ang pow to replace the traditional pig trotters :)Next up are the bridal cakes :D!!!!Again, it’s a tradition to give bridal cakes to the bride’s family, who will then distribute the cakes to their relatives to inform them of their daughter’s marriage :)! Actually nowadays a lot of couples opt for cake vouchers instead, but we couldn’t help getting the bridal cake package from Prima Deli because they are just so cute :D!!!!A kid is also part of the bridal gift exchange:Haha, just kidding, that’s Flying Paper’s very cute niece :D!!!!Our families going through the items :)And of course must take a very happy group shot :)!The items given by the bride’s family :)!And a whole lot more :D!!!!Trust me there’s a lot of items to be brought by the bride’s family :D! It includes a tea set for the tea ceremony, the bridal lamps, bridal quilt, bridal bedsheet, even a bridal basin to bathe our kids in next time :D!!!! Now I’m getting worried because I had difficulty falling asleep the night before our Guo Da Li because I was too excited (I usually fall asleep within minutes!)! Hope I can fall asleep easier the night before our Big Day because I’m scared of getting dark eye rings, haha :)….Less than two weeks to go before our Big Day, can’t wait for the day for us to begin the rest of our lives together forever :). . . . With Love,Barneysaurus :)!