Ok, I've been 'officially ' engaged for 5 weeks now. It's taken a while to sink in. We've got the date decided and the restaurant booked. It feels real. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it feels SO real! Chris and I are getting married - can you see the silly grin on my face?
Right, maybe it should have felt real when he put the ring on my finger, or when we went to get my dress designed and tailored or when we were deciding on wedding ring designs, but no, it's taken 5 weeks. In fact I am not sure it's totally sunk in yet, but it does feel real, and I'm excited.
The pastor at our church is still on leave, and we're waiting till he gets back to see whether he can marry us. He gets back later this week, and I'm waiting to talk to him.
We're considering photgraphers right now, and I am trying to find someone to do my hair and makeup. It's kinda scary trying to pick someone out based on the pictures on their website. With the photographer it's not so bad as we get to go view their work before deciding. But with the hair/make-up person, it's a little scary. I don't want to end up looking like
Dame Edna!
Oh, and some time between now and April, I need to buy or make a veil. I would like a short one but it seems that nobody arund here sells anything shorter than elbow length. If I want a shoulder length one, I will have to make it. Anyone who knows me will know I am not much of a seamstress. I have bought some tulle to make a practice one. Wish me luck folks..
Oh, and in all that excitement, I nearly forgot - it's Chinese New Year. Gong Hei Fatt Choi, everyone! This is the last year for me to receive hong baos (little red envelopes with money in them) as I will have to start giving them next year when I am married. Darn! And to think I am not home to receive my last lot of hong bao! :)
Bet you thought I had fallen off the edge of the planet, huh? Oh wait, but the world is not flat!
After 3 weeks of holidaying in Malaysia and Singapore I am back. Chris and I actually returned about a week ago but I have been batling with computer problems since. My laptop crashed whilst I was in Malaysia you see, and I am still waiting for the new one to arrive. In the meantime, I'm using Chris'.
EneIs completed. I am so excited I just had to talk about Ene before moving on to other news. My scarf exchange pal will be getting her soon. I haven't blocked her, and I realised after washing her that I didn't know how pointy and large my pal would like her.. so pal, you're getting a scarf you'll need to block yourself. When I laid her out to dry, I tried to massage the edges into place so that they show at least a little pointiness for the photos. This is what she looks like.. presenting ENE!
I tried showing how large and warm she is.. just ignore the crummy shorts and top, ok?
The bottom corner looks like this:
and the sides like this:
I don't know what you think, but I thinkshe's gorgeous. Actually, I don't care what you think. Even with all the booboos, I think she's gorgeous! I feel like a proud mother, and I don't want to part with her, but alas, I have to. It's been promised to my scarf pal. I guess I will just have to knit myself another.
Other knitting?What other knitting? I haven't managed to get much else done. However, now that Ene is complete, I am dreaming about the Estonian Garden Wrap from Fibretrends.
What about spinning then?Well, I definitely could not take my spinning wheel away with me, so no spinning was done during the holidays. I came back and started spinning that baby alpaca I am meant to be swapping with a lady in the US.
I don't have a picture of the singles, but I do have one of the fleece I flicked - doesn't it look soft!
It feels even softer than it looks. I hope my spinning does it justice. It's like touching clouds at the moment, but I am worried that I may be over-spinning it. I keep stopping to check, and it doesn't look like I am, I think, but I worry all the same.
Ok, so how did the holiday go?It was fantastic. It felt like we spent the whole time eating and shopping.. ok well, we did spend most of the time eating and shoping. I came home with about 8 pairs of shoes, I think. Well, that was when I stopped counting! Chris didn't do too badly either - 3 pairs of shoes and a pair of sandals.
I didn't buy too many clothes. not this time.. I had spent a lot of money at Naf Naf the previous trip (which, if you remember, was at the beginning of December 05!). I didn't think I could justify more clothing purchases apart from a few essentials.
The food, now that was a different story all together - what justification? All diet consciences stayed at the door when we entered the local eateries. The food was amazing. I'd say that judging by the rather satisfied look on his face, Chris agreed with me.
We ate at Prego's at the Westin KL - Oh my goodness! I think the more appropriate word would be 'feasted'! The waiters there were fantastic and the floor managers certainly made sure we felt comfortable and welcome. I guess it was in their interests to do so, but my, it sure felt like they went out of their way to do so. Service was top notch as was the food. Eest at the Westin KL was just as fantastic. The service was great, food was great, what more can I say?!
We didn't just check out the top end of the food market. We introduced Chris to small local eateries. In fact, the first place we ate at, when we arrived in KL, was a small 'coffee shop' just off Jalan Imbi that served Ipoh Hor Fun. I'll start by explaining a coffee shop is NOT a cafe. It's a shop, usually inexpensive, and serves one or more types of food. Sometiems there are individual stalls or 'carts' within the shop serving different types of food from noodles to rice dishes to cakes and sweets. It is usually not air-conditioned, but this one was an exception. Ipoh Hor Fun, well, Hor Fun is flat rice noodles, and Ipoh is a city north of KL. This dish, as its name suggests, is one of the specialties of that city. It's a soupy noodle dish with some shredded chicken and prawns, I think - I am not very fond of it. Chris appeared to like it.
I don't think Chris will get over the trip to Ipoh. We ate at a coffeeshop and a restaurant. Perhaps the meal at the coffeeshop was more 'spectacular'. We had pork satay (bbq-ed skewers of marinated meat) and also satay made from various internal parts of the pig - I don't think I should go into detail here... We also had 'custard' which is the name by which creme caramel is known in Ipoh. It was the best - perfect consistency and oh, oh, oh so smooth! We also went to old town Ipoh for 'white coffee'. White coffee is another one of Ipoh's specialties. It has nothing to do with whether milk is added to the drink. I think it is called white coffee because the beans are roasted in such a way that they are more pale than coffee beans roasted in any other way.. uhm, something to that effect anyway. The more spectacular 'dish', if I may call it that, was the kaya on toasted hainanese bread. Kaya is a 'jam' made from coconut milk and eggs. Hainanese bread is a particularly 'airy' sort of bread - very light - which makes a very nice crispy toast. I think it's a local thing - in that I don't think you'll find it on Hainan Island (which is actually in China). We went to "Ya Kun Kaya Toast" in Singapore for the same thing, and it tasted so different - not just different but not even half as delicious!
Oh Cyn, am I making you drool yet?
Alright, and the big news is??Ta da!
Uh huh.. Chris and I are getting married! In the two weeks in KL, we managed to accomplish:
- Chris asking my parents for my hand in marriage
- both of us selecting the stone for my engagement ring and getting the ring made
- getting the wedding rings made (they will be ready in February)
- designing and getting my white dress made for the ceremony here (it's only a simple dress, but even so!!) - the dressmaker even managed to get one fitting in before I left
- selecting and getting my Chinese dress made for the tea ceremony in KL - it's already in my hot little hands!
- all shoe shopping done - they are part of the 8 or so pairs I referred to earlier
Phew! did I forget something? Oh, not only did I get an engagement ring, but Chris also bought me a pair of earrings that I can wear at my wedding. Am I a lucky duck, or what! I must apologise for the poor quality of the photo.. it was kind of hard to get a focused picture as the reflection kept interfering with the shot.
We haven't got a date set, but it will be some time soon we think, since we're having a simple private ceremony with a small dinner for both immediate families. It's not like I need a year to plan that, right?
