Jinxed?

18 more days to go! And that is not so long, isn't it? My emotions are a riot of colours right now. Excitement. Happiness. Scared. Anxious. A little sadness. Thankful. Joy. You name it, I have it.

"God will not test us with tests that He knows we cannot overcome"

This is one of the phrases that I will always remember close to my heart. Eversince we got engaged, people keep on saying that this period will be the time when the greatest tests will be on us. Being a skeptic when it comes to negative thinking I always push those voices away. People keep on telling us that our "blood is sweeter" (darah manis) during this time. I send that too to the back burners.

Truthfully, I am thankful that He has decided that I am not strong enough to face too strong of a test. And the little ones He sent to us are ways for us to learn to deal life issues together.

Most recent, is my reception dress. Haih. I was so happy and elated to see that it turned out to be exactly like how I wanted it to be. Alhamdulillah. I sent it to laundrette for dry cleaning and pressing. When I went to collect it, I just could not believe what I'm seeing. The laces were... loosen... It is so appalling to see such beautiful dress turned out to be like something you've worn many times over. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but this is more on how I feel.

I could not cry even. When I talked to the owner, I did not even raise my voice. Not a bit. I just tell him how I feel when I saw the dress. Thanks to Allah, the owner agreed to pay the compensation as I told him I need to pay my designer to repair the dress. And I know my designer will be very sad when she look at the dress, since she put a lot of effort into it. :-(

I'm sending the dress back to the designer tomorrow. I hope the amount that was agreed with the laundrette owner is enough to pay her for the repairs. If it's not, I still have to pay, kan? Ha ha ha... story of my life.

UPDATE 1/12/2009: I sent the dress for repair this morning. As I expected, Mag was surprised and quite upset. However, she can still laugh and smile and promised me that she'll do her best. Haih... I'm just sedih because I so want to hang the dress in the room! Looking at it is a statement that I've completed another check list! But alas... sabar aje la kan?

Fun with quotes!

Albert Einstein was quoted saying:

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t. A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, and she does.

Some men say that their angels turn into ogres after "I Do". And several more marital jokes don't prove otherwise.

Now, my question is, this situation, is it because we expect these things to happen, so they do? Or it's really happening since Adam met Eve? Remember the "Law of Attractions"? Remember The Alchemist? How we're supposed to behave the best way we can, and the universe will then somehow be aligned and work for us?

We read so many books, we refer to so many scholars. And yet, Albert Einstein was again quoted saying this:

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

So maybe, it is true when people say, the more we read the more stupid we become!

If we walk into a new relationship thinking all the bad things that will happen, isn't it just natural that those bad things will come to exist? If we can strive to be better at work to get that promotion, shouldn't we be doing the same thing for our relationships?

Winston S. Churchill once said:

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

We should not be a pessimist in love. They say love makes things go round. It's not a lie. Because of love too many things in life is happening. Don't believe me? I'll point you some examples to get you started.

• Look at wars, they are the product of love towards power and money.
• Look at divorces, they are the product of love towards freedom and no commitments.
• Look at fashion, they are the product of love towards art.
• Look at children, they are the product of love between two person in love.
• Look at flowers blooming, they are the product of love towards nature and beautiful things.

When a couple gets into an argument, they tend to forget the reason that they get together in the first place. They forget why they fell in love. They forget why they said "I do". Maybe we should always keep these reason in mind when our partners' actions tick us wrong. And maybe then we can talk within reason, and no one has to bleed from it.

If all fail, just remember this:

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." — Robert A. Heinlein

Recap of The Weekend

My weekend started of with a series of spa treatment. Isn't it a great way to end the week days and start the weekend?

Went to Kajang with Ems for the bridal spa treatment. It's our first session. There will be three more sessions to go before our weddings. For this session, I did the sauna, body scrub, herbal bath and resdung treatment. All of which I enjoyed tremendously!

While waiting for Ems to finish her treatment, I started to change my clothes and put on make-up for "that fun thing". And after that we quickly made our way to Puchong, since we were already late!

As soon as we arrive, I was told to immediately, you know... pose. This is my first experience doing a studio photo shoot, so I was a mixture of nerves and excitement. Luckily, Ems was there and she sorta "directed" me. Ha ha ha...

It was really, really fun session. Besides Ems, my dears Mel, Sarcylicious and Kak Mas were also there making the day happen. We had a great time together. And we are so looking forward to see the pictures. I would like all three of them to know how I appreciate them being there with me. Thanks gals!

Only after we have finished the session, and all of us were sitting at the mamak joint, that I realised that I was not in my complete "costume". I had the flower, the peasant blouse and the jeans. BUT I did not have the turquoise accessories on me! I was already without the so called hippie hair during the photo shoot, and to realise that I did not have the accessories I prepared was... blurgh. Ha ha ha.. I guess, we were having so much fun that I'd forgotten about the accessories altogether!

On Sunday, I woke up quite early, made myself breakfast and started to sort things out to get to work. Get to work on the gifts thingy. I managed to complete everything, although there was a little hiccup along the way. And just before my parents came back from Singapore, I was already putting the nets for the bunga pahar.

And that, my friends, conclude my weekend adventure.

My Planned Wedding Bouquet

Not sure if it's a little too early for me to share more about the wedding preparation... But since I'm seriously bored, and have about an hour more to go back, I guess, I'll talk about the flower that I have picked to be my wedding bouquet... ;-)

My initial planning was to have long stemmed calla lilies. See my previous post for the mini version, which I'm now using for "that fun thing" tomorrow. Which also means, it is not going to be my wedding flower.

Not too long ago, I did a simple test on FaceBook (yes!) on "Your Birth Flower Test". And this result came out:


Just like that, I immediately made up my mind to have Carnations as my wedding bouquet. Simply because, it's January's flower. I do not know how it will turn out, but the blessed WWW has given me some ideas....





















Nice, huh?

I remembered once a friend told me about a florist who is actually the wife of our mutual acquaintance. So I called her up and tada! she's doing the bouquet for me. I must remember to call her back to tell her that I need few more stalks for other things...

Today I googled carnations, and according to the web... "The carnation, scientifically known as Dianthus caryophyllus...its scientific name dianthus roughly translating to "flower of love" or "flower of the gods"..." (source: Meaning of Carnation Flowers)

As usual, each colour has its own meanings...

Carnations	What they Mean
Carnations in general	Fascination, Woman's Love
Pink Carnations	Mother's Love
Light red Carnations	Admiration
Dark red Carnations	Deep Love and Woman's Affection
White Carnations	Pure Love and Good Luck
Striped Carnations	Regret, Refusal
Green Carnations	St. Patrick's Day
Purple Carnations	Capriciousness
Yellow Carnation	Disappointment, Dejection

(Source: TheFlowerExpert.com)

Whatever the meanings are, the most important thing, your bouquet must be in the colour that you like and love. Not to mention, they need to match the theme! So, if before, you think carnations are just ordinary... think again!

For that fun thing!

In reference to my previous post; Something fun to look forward to!, there's another accessory that I'm creating for the day.

Presenting the bouquet!!


With turquoise ribbons, of course!!

ps: picture from Flowersgrowing.com

Zee Avi

Wonderful, soulful voice.

I first listened to her as KokoKaina at Bijou Bazaar. Fell in love just like thousand other people who had been following her on YouTube.

She has now released an album in the US (proves how our own talented souls are not appreciated locally). I haven't been visiting the record store, not sure if her album is already available here. But it SHOULD be!

Just look at the reviews she's getting at her YouTube page, Facebook fan page as well as Amazon! Her songs are simple and straight forward. Check her out!

Update: Apparently I wrote about her before: On KokoKaina

Something fun to look forward to!

For a little activity this weekend I am planning to go with this look...

Hippie hairstyle

Peasant blouse and jeans

Couple those with turquoise accessories

Let's just see how it'll turn out, shall we?

The Facial Cleanser That Works!

I have been using Eucerin's White Solution Gentle Cleansing Foam for quite some time now. Almost 3 months, if I am not mistaken. And let me tell you, this is the best facial cleanser I've used so far!

On the tube itself, the product claims that it gently deep cleanse sensitive skin and removes make-up (a plus!). And after cleansing "The skin feels fresh, clean and mat. The complexion is improved and the skin looks fair and more radiant".

My verdict; it does what it says.

Yes ladies, it's the truth. I am not getting paid to share what I experienced, if you think this is just a marketing gimmick. ;-)

First of all, as usual you need to wet your skin; Eucerin recommends warm water, but I found normal temperature water works just well. Because, the most important thing is when you do the cleansing. Make sure you massage the foam thoroughly on your face. And by thoroughly, I do not mean pressing hard or pulling your facial skin.

Do a light circular motion on the skin and do it for at least a count of 10. This is just an example. Remember how it feels like when you go for facial session, and how long the beautician takes to cleanse your face? Well, do exactly that. And when you're done with your face area, move to your neck area and collar bone. If possible, extend the cleansing motion to your upper chest area. Again, just like what the beautician does during facial treatment.

The prolonged circular motion that we use on the skin area will warm up the skin, and this will activate the pores, opening them and finally enable us to deeply cleanse the skin. This is the reason why your skin feels fresh after the beautician perform the cleansing step. So don't disregard the importance, because it helps to prep your skin for your next caring step!

Coming back to the product itself, every time after using it, I do notice that my skin is clearer and hardly any blackheads or whiteheads. My skin also is more matte and feels fresh. Isn't that just wonderful? My skin does not feel tight like some deep cleansers cause sometimes.

So, I would recommend you to use this cleanser, and feel the difference yourself! Good luck!

To My Girlfriends

I love my other half to bits, that's for sure! But there are things that only girlfriends would be able to say (or do) that calms your rage or put a smile on your face. And that's what happened to me.

Girlfriends, some people think it's childish to need girlfriends when you already have your other half. Some people don't really talk to their girlfriends anymore once they're hitched. I can understand that once you're married, your responsibilities are more towards the hubby. But that does not mean you cannot meet up for chats with your girlfriends, right? Well... unless the hubby forbids it, lah...

Women, we tend to make our other half the center of our universe. It's just how we are, and we cannot deny that. Further, there is nothing wrong with that, because it's our nature and to do this means you will be able to nurture the relationship better.

I have few girlfriends... Even fewer of which mostly treasured. And I intend to keep them forever. My solemn hope that they feel the same about me... :-) I love you gals!!

Happy Halloween!!

It's a weekend again. There's no pumpkin, though.

There are still so much to do. Everywhere I see my friends, they are growing up. Lives are changing. Some friends stay and some just... disappear. Some stick through tears and heartbreak, some simply drift away even when there's only laughter and tickles. Very funny.

I get more melancholic as the day gets nearer. The curse of getting hitch while you're not so young anymore is that you don't get to have some of much needed friends with you. Not because they don't want to be there for you, just because life is. They have their own lives and responsibilities, as such, not much time for anything else.

I am not that young anymore, and yet, I'd love nothing else than to have my close friends with me. Very childish of me. However, after reading a blog post just now... I realise, I have to correct myself. Muhasabah time! How easily we could be swept away when doing important things.

So today, I'm going to stop mopping how sad I am because of circumstances that cannot be avoided. Instead I'm going to remind myself all day how blessed I am and lucky I am that I am getting all the things that good life could offer. Great parents and brothers. Wonderful fiance. Awesome girlfriends. And best of all, these beautiful people in my life, they could put up with my antics! Isn't that just... the best?

Alhamdulillah. Syukran Ya Rabb.