ONE23456

Well, whenever there’s an entry, something significant must have happened. This time round, the date to note is 31 Jan 2015.

“180306 My First Love . My Only Darling 310110” This is the message etched onto our champagne gold rings which we wear day in, day out.

For the past 5 years, we have been spending this anniversary with each other, but this year is different as we have a bundle of joy in our midst to celebrate together with us!

We went back to where it all began, Shangri-la Hotel with the dreamy Waterfall Terrace and the pond full of colourful Koi. The place where we held our ROM reception has been converted into a Cafe called The Waterfall but the charm of the place and the memories of us walking down the terraces to friends shouting and throwing rose petals is still fresh in my mind. We had high tea with Cutie at The Rose Veranda, sipping TWG tea and having nibbles of the buffet line. Cutie is having an infant high tea buffet of her own too, mainly having bites off slices of fruits.

Happy Wedding Anniversary!

Cutie with her buffet spread

“Wow, a family protrait that looks nice for once!!!” — Darling exclaimed

Cutie had a new bathing indulgence as introduced by Darling… …a Literal Milk Bath! And we are using Real Milk….Breast Milk! Hahaha yeah! So No fear of Cutie drinking her bath-tub water already, since it’s breast milk anyway. Ever since Cutie refused to drink the frozen expressed breast milk, they are left in our freezer, taking up precious space for our ice-creams…haha, so what better way to use them but to use them for Milk Shower! Maciam Empress Dowager, we have Mini-Princess Charlotte enjoying her Breast Milk Bath. Priceless smile…

Preparing to enter her bath tub full of Mummy’s Milk

Enjoying her first Milk Bath

The last 3 weeks has been a culinary roadtrip for us. First we went to Rose Veranda for our Anniversary high-tea, 1 week before our actual anniversary, then 1 week later, we visited the Botanical Gardens where we had brunch at Food For Thought. The botanical gardens is also another memorable place for us since it is where Darling received her first bouquet of 99 roses from me, back at the day when Au Jardin was still open for business. Food for thought is quite a child friendly place with their own in-house playground, complete with a slide. It’s spacious to accomodate strollers and baby chairs inside and food is not too bad. Parking is a breeze as the carpark is just outside the restaurant. After brunch, we had a stroll inside Botanical Gardens, exposing Cutie to the many big trees and green leaves and colourful blooms along the way. Weather was hot though and Cutie fell asleep quite fast in her stroller. Haha, in the end, it’s only darling and me enjoying the scenery, pushing Cutie in the stroller. According to darling, THIS is the image of a blissful life! Husband and Wife, pushing a baby pram with a sleeping baby inside, strolling through the park….if only the weather is more cooling…

Darling with her Anniversary Bouquet comprising of flowers from her ROM bouquet

Cutie and Mummy having a very interactive feeding session

Cutie loves to crawl around now and she is standing up more easily too. She can walk really fast forward holding on to our fingers. Of course she don’t know what is fear…haha venturing forth to every corner of the house. She will also attempt to squeeze into any holes (under chairs, tables, TV consoles). Cutie even managed to find a way to climb out of her teak chair! (Which I congratulated her for… Haha, I think it takes creativity and imagination to maneuver her way out of the chair and she deserves the credit!).

Cutie with walker

Go Forth My Cutie! Have no fear! But please do it in our presence lah!

Next up are some cute pics that we took along the way with Cutie and there’s a cute faceoff between Cutie and Joshua!

Cutie trying to test if Mummy’s teething necklace is made of Gold

This pic resembles a Young Darling to the MAX

“Don’t U dare take my Diapers! Only left with these 2 packets on the shelves!” – Charlotte

PeekaBoo I found U hiding underneath my Stool!

Angelic and ever-so-innocent look…

Cutie and Joshua Face-off…David vs Goliath

ONE Cutie Baby Charlotte, 246 days old, 35 weeks.

ONE23456. Question answered. =)

Can’t wait to have a family hug with my darling and Cutie later!

ROM couple album

Hey this blog has been quite busy very lately with all the updates! Haha. I also write till shiok! It’s like spilling out all the secrets which we have been holding back during the preparation of our ROM. All for the sake of the surprise factor! Heehee.
Today, I shall review the truth about our ROM couple album!
If you have been following, we signed up with Venus bridal studio, located in Taman sentosa of JB. We wanted to have beautiful pictures taken of us, but wants it to be a bit more “wow” than the ordinary wedding pictures. We are not having an actual wedding yet, just the ROM first, so we decided to have a “couple makeover” instead =)
We initially wanted to transform ourselves into something unrecognizable, like me dressing up as darling or darling dresing up as dar dar…lolz, just joking. We wanted to present a different side of us to our close friends, to make it all the more memorable for them and us. It is also to show appreciation to them for being our close friends, by giving them something unqiue to savour.

Just to recap: We had a total of 5 outfits
1) spanish
2) peranakan
3) cheongsam
4) our own outfit –> which we chose to be a blast from the past retro with a pink pokka dot outfit complete with male suspenders
5) our own outfit –> which we chose to remember the time we first met by wearing our work uniform and darling specially sourcing out the vintage SGH green uniform for the shoot!

spanish dance

spanish royalty outfit

In this set, darling is transformed into a curly haired babe wearing the multi layered dress complete with a tiny hat as a hair accessory. She has this royalty feel when she is posing for the shoots. I am wearing this frilly willy shirt which is kinda fun. This set is pretty but not our favorite as you can see that it only occupies 2 pages of our album.

Darling transforms into the little nyonya

This set is one of my favorite as I love the way darling lie on the sofa. She looks so cute and adorable!! We are also trying to imitate how the old peranakans would pose for the family portrait by remaining a solemn face…lolz…I think I still look comical.

re-living the old Shanghai life

black and white nostalgia, me trying to be cool

artistic modernistic feel

This set definitely has the “wow” factor…ok, at least it wowed me. I love to see darling dressed up in oriental style cheongsam, with the high slits! Ah-Wooooo…brings out the wolf in me!
Darling definitely has the sultry look! Lolz, and it makes her all the more sexy!
I am in this white suit which is quite stylo, in my opinion. I even had the chance to act cool for once…lucky it didn’t turn out too bad!
We loved the set with the photographer using a single light source and playing with shadows, creating the artisitic feel. We saw a similar portrait hanging on 1 of the walls in the bridal studio and we knew we must have a similar looking set! Haha, this is definitely something refreshing for us as we definitely do not come across as artistic people. Darling has a different dimension of sexy in this set. I love you darling, you are so dynamic!

Finally we have the own outfits!
In the retro set, the photographer is trying to get us to pose as what a retro couple would pose, with tiny details of how we need to hook our feet, stand with the tip of the toes on the ground and to adjust spectacles from time to time. He even brought along an umbrella. Of course we did our own homework by trying to synchronize our colour combi. Darling insist that my suspenders are a must to re-create the retro feel. And darling is spot-on yet again! Check this out… …

When we first set eyes on each other

Going out and sharing a tiny umbrella...we look kinda stiff, Lolz

We will go out together rain or shine, always under the same umbrella

No matter where U go, I will find you and hold your hand

Trust in me, we will open the doors to a whole new world together

Old movie theater dating

Hug me and never let me go

I will keep you smiling always

Hold me in your arms, life is beautiful

The last set is actually a “re-enactment” of how we first met. Lolz, of course we didn’t do the things we did in the photos lah. No lying down on each other, no playing with stethoscope lah, just plain simple, innocent love. Darling went all out to source for the trademark green SGH uniform. That was the uniform darling was wearing when she mesmerized me in the ward =p
The uniform actually belonged to her 2nd sister. Well, thank goodness she still kept the uniform, and that darling can fit into the uniform! We had a lot of fun for this set. Our photographer is kept entertained as well as it’s his first time taking pics for couples in uniform. He is too used to taking pics of couples in gowns etc with his various standard poses, so we posed a challenge to him =p. Well, all went well and we came away with some pretty cute and fun photos! The page layout designer even managed to help us design the layout page with such a cute background! This is one of my favorite pages in the album, apart from the retro pages.

Fun and love at work

So this is our ROM couple makeover album. This is our first time taking a photoshoot together. It has been tiring having to smile all day, it has been troublesome going in and out of JB a few times to get things done but everything is worth it! The album is truly beautiful and we are very satisfied!

fly me to Venus and back

What were you doing on 21/11/09 from 4pm till 9pm?
—> cannot remember?
Anyway I don’t care too. =p

Me and darling were happily sitting in Venus Bridal, sipping our Toffee Nut Frappucino and looking at beautiful photos…of US!
It’s no joke trying to sieve out 30 album-worthy photos from the stack of over 300 photos, not mentioning that every photo looks beautiful on its own! (Ok, I am not saying we are both damn handsome and pretty, but it is the collective effort of the MUA, the PG and of course our inborn pretty looks..hehehe) Don’t vomit k! I am speaking from the bottom of my heart!
The trick is to just quickly browse through all the photos and immediately sieve out those that looks a teenie weenie bit “cannot make it”. It’s helpful to sieve out 1/3 of the photos.
We have a total of 5 different outfits, so we go through each set systematically, limiting ourselves to not more than 5-6 per set, unless absolutely impossible to choose! (Which actually happened for our retro set). Then there is the third round, to further cut down the number of photos to reduce costs. While choosing the photos, we roughly have an idea of how the layout will be like so we can choose the poses that complement….ie, don’t choose all the photos with us looking in the same direction. After 4-5 rounds of going through and discussion…we actually managed to cut down to 43….we really tried our best…these 43 photos have to be selected, if not we will regret for life! Kekeke.
We later had a talk with the designer, who will tell us how many pages we will need to showcase the photos selected.
In the end, we chose 43 poses and about 28 pages, increased from our original 22 pages and 30 poses. Then we had an offer too tempting to resist…we can have the whole stack of 4R sample photos if we top up to 50 poses! Which amounts to an extra RM 1,500. Yup, you guessed it, we chose 7 more photos to make up 50 poses and paid a total of RM 3,700 for our whole package =) But we are satisfied customers. =)
2 weeks later, we will have a soft copy of how our album layout will look like! How exciting! Hmm…which is 1 week from today!
We have yet to choose our photo to be blown up to protrait size, but we have 1 in mind…heehee…
We also planned to use 1 set of photos to be made into a ROM montage, we both love that set! U can try to guess which set…Kekeke

Venus, Fire, Desire

Hey yes, it has been a long long time!
Time for an update!

We went for our pre-ROM make-over photoshoot in JB on 6 Nov =) It is truly enjoyable!
It so happens to be Xian’s and my off days so we can avoid the weekend crowds. It’s our first time having our photos shot by a professional! (Ok, if you consider the neo-print machine as a professional, then it’ll be the second time lah) but still, very very looking forward to it! We even thought of what we are going to wear for our shoot! Hehehehe.

As a preparation for this shoot, darling and I went to source for retro clothings to suit our retro photo set. Man, it’s tough looking for guy’s vintage wear! We managed to find this shop in The Cathay called “de javu” which sells truly vintage wear….ok, not cheap lah, but if you are a avid supporter of vintage wear, that’s the shop to go! I bought a tight fitting top with zigzag lines (hmm…I choose to believe it’s tight fitting because it’s MEANT to be tight fitting, and not because I made it tight fitting! Humph!), and darling bought a really cute pink dress with white pokka dots!
Initially we thought that will be my outfit, the blue tight shirt with the brown shorts I bought in Melaka, but my bushy curly leg hair may spoil the picture leh =( Not to be disappointed by this minor set back, we had some last minute shopping on the eve of ur photoshoot! We scoured the whole of bugis street but cannot find any retro pants to go along with my retro top….so sianz…but alas, “the yellow sky do not let people with hearts down”, we found my retro outfit in Topshop! First we found a striped pants with those horizontal pockets (instead of the diagonal ones…hmm…guys should know what I mean), then as we are walking towards the changing room…..叮当叮当叮当叮当叮当 (hmm…supposed to be the drumroll type of thing, imagine lah!…….) we saw this pink striped shirt on display with the 2 black suspender straps as the accessory! We were like “WOW” This is it! (Okok, a tribute to Michael Jackson here…MJ, U will always be the king of pop!)
Yeah, this is it! I tried the shirt on and we bought it…total cost for the short, pants and suspenders S$150+, well, at least I get to be their Topshop member free for life! Kekeke.

Finally the day has come for our photoshoot! (It has been raining for hte past 2-3 days, and we are very lucky we have very nice weather during our outdoor shoot). We each brought like 2-3 sets of clothings and shoes into JB, can’t wait to be transformed!
We had a total of 5 sets of outfits….
1) retro pink–> we used this as our theme for the outdoor shoot in sultan garden
2) oriental–> here, Xian is being transformed into the seductive babe in white cheongsam, very Shanghai feel!
3) Spanish –> Darling has a change in hairstyle with a small hat as a hair accessory. She was wearing this triple layered dress, looking sexy, while I am wearing this shirt and suit with frilly sleeves.
4) Peranakan –> Darling is again in a bun hairstyle with pearls as hair accessory. She has a red baju kebaya with gold sarong. Really charming, I thought she looks like one of the actress…U guess who? =)
5) Last but not least, we don on our uniforms and went for the shoot! Yup, darling was wearing her green SGH uniform while I am in my long sleeved short and pants and tie, complete with stethoscope. The photographer, MUA and PG assistant had some fun playing with the stethoscope and listening to one and another…haha, so cute!

getting ready for photoshoot

next up, the hair

our pre makeup look

almost finished makeover

My first time applying makeup and having hairdo

How do my darling look? Sweet hor!

How do I look? Suave leh!

We are ready for the shoot! Let's go!

We are really impressed with the MUA, the PG and the bridal studio overall. The indoor shoot backdrops are really nice and there are really a lot of backdrops to take with! Their gowns for photoshoot are also very elaborate and not stingy with the docorations such as beads, gems, lace etc. All look very very nice. We had a very enjoyable time there!
Can’t wait to see our photos on 21 Nov 09! I foresee having a headache, trying to choose the photos, but I am loving it! Darling is confident that she can choose easily the photos for the album….we shall see!

Hee……darling and I discussed…we will only show the blog readers our retro 造型….the rest will be shown after our ROM! Hahaha…..stay tuned!

Thank you Liffey, our MUA, for giving us so many different looks!!
Thank you Gilchrist, our PG, for making us models! hehehe
check out his blog! “www.gilchrist84.multiply.com”
Thank you Qi, the assistant, for helping us here and there with props and clothes.

Jade Yamada trial

Ok, this has been long long overdue =p

This is not about the suzuki motorcross or F123 grand prix trial run. Jade Yamada is a person, a japanese make up artist and she is not green for your info.

Weixian had wanted to engage Jade for her makeup service after being wowed by her potfolio and her many jap style hairstyles, so decided to make use of the opportunity to get a trial make up =)

27Sept09 is weixian’s friend’s wedding banquet and what better chance to make use of the trial makeup!

The following are photos featuring the transformation from princess to queen….tell us your genuine comments k.

setting the base, trimming eyebrows

tools of the trade

all set, GO!

eye work

lid work

colour

end of stage 1

stage 2 starts

awaiting eyelashes

lashes up!

lips colour with glozz

light reflecting off juicy lips

blow your hair away!

hairstyling

served like a queen should be

byebye straights

curling

curls!

hump up the back

twists and turns

happy despite bad hair day

tidying up the curls

swift as a hair-stylist

almost done!

final touchup

final product

spray spray into place

braiding

satisfied customer

kawaii dez

nope, this is not the ROM gown =)

I felt that weixian looks alright overall, but a bit too “heavy” for a lunchtime event.

Darling was not too impressed with the results…

The eyes were made up too dark and too emphasized…didn’t achieve the eye enlargement effect =p (I need eye enlargement too!)

Weixian also generally not like permed hair one, so the perm didn’t end up well with her. (I think permed hair gives darling a sophisticated look but I agree perming definitely makes one look more matured)

But all in all, it has been an enjoyable make up session =)

Shall now engage Liren for another trial make up!

Yay! I can have another eye feast loh! More photo clicking too! Hahaha