A friend on FB asked me about the henna tattooing I did for my wedding. I did mine in an Indian bridal shop. It was a pleasure to walk down memory lane and share these pix with her. Here you go Mas…..

Before :

Top

Palms

After :

Top

Palms

I was happy with it but would have preferred it to be more intricate. But am now wondering how long THAT would have taken coz each hand for this design took some 1 hr 45 minutes!!!!

So there you go, Mas….not as nice as yours…wish I could do it again, the henna tattooing la.

PPpssstt…..and for the heck of it, might as well add some wedding pix too!!! ^.^

Just married outside the church doors

Our first dance

Champagne pouring – and we didnt even get a chance to aste it!! :/

On our honeymoon….

August is fast approaching and I can’t help but remind myself that it will be 4 years since we got married. It will also be 4 years since I moved to Sydney AND Arianna turns 3 on our anniversary. No cookies for guessing which event takes 1st priority. We are planning a birthday party for Arianna but apparently Sis and Mum have already started the planning almost a year ago! *lol* More like planning since we told them that we were coming down for her birthday in November 2009. Needless to say, I am reminded of the time when I first moved to Sydney and began calling Australia home.

It was my first week in Sydney and Ted cooked our first meal on 21/10/2006.

It was these hands which have made many meals after this moment and these hands which have held mine through thick and thin.

Anyway, it was a lovely meal of spaghetti bolognaise which have since become a family favourite. But for now, I shall not steal his limelight.

The finished product…. This is merely our first home-cooked meal together as a married couple. And no thanks to him being able to whip up such delish dishes, there is no such thing as a quick weight loss regime for me. *sigh* Thankfully, I have a superb excuse not to be on diet now. *lol*

It will be a whole different story after the little man arrives though…..*shakes head*

After almost 2 years of being a fulltime housewife and mother, I finally stepped foot into my old office. In the beginning, I was so excited, then the office mucked around so much that I got sick and tired of waiting hence I was pissed, then I got worried coz I had to leave the kids behind with Ted, then finally yesterday, I had no feeling at all coz I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t want to dwell on any what-could-go-wrong scenarios hence, I just went to work with an open mind and left my little worries behind at home.

Both the girls were excellent with Ted and apparently he had no trouble with them at all. *touch wood, touch wood* He even prepared lunch and dinner for everyone. So I am very proud of him. Somehow when it was time to go to work, I went with a light heart because deep down inside, I knew I could trust him and that he would do great. I am glad that I have that much confidence in him because if my heart and mind was left at home, there was no way I could concerntrate at work. And with numbers, there’s always a chance of a wrongly placed decimal point which could bring the whole department down! So praise God that all went well.

That said, while I did miss the girls a lot. I didn’t miss them as much as I thought I would have. Not wanting to sound like a bad mum coz I honestly did miss them but at the same time, I also appreciated the time away from them. While they are lovely to spend time with, nothing beats having time to yourself and being amongst big people. And to be honest, I’ve had enough of Sesame Street for awhile! So while I lapped up the chance of having some time out even though it was spent working, Ted too spent a lot of time with them and making up for the times he was at work, away from them.

It’s a beautiful win-win situation. I have about 2 to 3 weeks of work and after that, who knows? If things look good and if I get offered another job, I may take it…or maybe I won’t. It will depend a lot of the location and position of course. At the moment I walk to the train station – excellent way to exercise, then take a train to Liverpool and then a bus to TAFE. All in all, it takes some 51min.

At work, most of them recognise me but just couldn’t put a finger on where they’d seen me. lol Work wise, things have changed a bit but nothing I couldn’t handle. It was definitely good to be back in an office. I really miss it. Tomorrow is Australia Day so it’s a public holiday, hence I’m off but it’s back to work the day after and it will be full-on!! It’s enrolment time at TAFE and it’s going to be a mad house. lol

Just the way I like it.

Yay!!! I finally got my PR approved. Although I am over the moon about it and was glad that it was painless, it felt as if it didn’t really require all the stress and tension I put myself through!

One friend had troubles getting her PR approved and advised me to make sure that I have all the necessary documents to prove our genune relationship. Another friend nearly had his wife deported just because he didn’t play by the rules – the list is endless and because of how strict immigration can get, I was really genuinely afraid that things might no go so smoothly. I was reminded of how we went around in circles when we applied for my 1st stage of spouse visa. Omg…thinking about it itself is scary, imagine living through it!

Anyway, to cut the story short, I am glad that I wasn’t required to fork out my life savings to pay for the visa and I have 5 yrs before I will have to get another one in case I am travelling much to Malaysia to ensure that I don’t get stuck at customs which is no biggie since 5 yrs from now is far away. The only amount I had to pay was AU43 which was for the police check which of course I came out clean la.

Even the information required from us was mainly about the events and information that was related to us after marriage, hence I didn’t need to tell them how we met and send them our personal letters and emails. YES, I had to do that – damn embarassing man! But watodo….lovey-dovey also have to send coz it does prove that this wasn’t an act or a hoax of any kind.

I guess what made things easy could have been the fact that we already have Arianna and now am expecting Pacman in April. [So fast kan???] Either way, I’m glad that one headache is over. Now, have to prepare for my driving license pulak. I think, looking at things I might not be able to take it before Pacman comes which is sad coz I was hoping to get it done so that I can at least start driving to the surpermarket when Mum comes down. But there is still time if I try really hard so wish me luck!! Also, will be looking into changing my name as well. That would certainly make Ted’s day! Maybe I should tell him that that will be his anniversary present. *lol*

But for now, which way to welfare office??

It’s been quite some time since I last blogged and it was mainly due to being business clearing the house for the painters who had come in to paint the whole unit and also for Ted to complete his modding. It’s going to be released in a couple of days so he’s really been working very hard at finishing it as soon as possible because….we’ve got a new place!!

Yes, we finally found a nice little unit which is bigger than our current unit and for a lower price. In short, it’s a very good deal and we are really happy and excited about it. We have been looking for a new place since Oct/Nov 07 and I didn’t realise that it would take this long to finally find something we both like. I guess such things take time because it ain’t as simple as buying a blouse where you can return and exchange it for another if you didn’t like it. This new unit is about 10 minutes away from where we currently live and although the area isn’t as nice as the one we are in now, the shopping complex is nearby and a close family friend lives in the next street so you could say that I will have someone spend time with other than Ted. Hehehehe…..no one could say no having a chat over a cuppa, right?

So, yea….I will be busy slowing packing stuff up since we have approximately 6 weeks before the big move but since the painters were here earlier, it was extra incentive for us to start packing our stuff although at that time, we didn’t know yet that our offer would pull through. So, now although 1/4 of our stuff is already in storage, there is still a lot of our things back home which isn’t and hasn’t been packed and I really don’t know where to start. This is the first time I have ever done any moving so it will be an experience for me. Moving my clothes from one country to another is totally different to moving EVERYTHING we own to a brand new place. So, fingers crossed, all will be fine.

That said, it is a bit of a bugger because this is happening now – not saying that I am not happy with the new place but the timing is a little off because I’ll be heading home on 11/3/2008. So I really hope that with Sis help [she's coming over on 28/2/2008], it will making the moving or unplacking, which ever is applicable at that time, a little easy for me. So excited!!!!

Ps. Those are all the books that was taken off the shelved by the painters and 3/4 have been packed. I don’t know where these books came from but all I know is Ted loves books. Maybe once  we’ve unpacked, I’ll show you Ella’s books….. :) 

Pps. I’ve uploaded more pix of Ella – go check em’ out!  :grin: 

Pelf made a good point when she wrote that it would be easiest to read about a blogger’s year in one post if everyone did a reflection post about what happened in 2007. She did one and indeed, it had the gist of 2007 and really made me think [and she mentioned this as well] that I wouldn’t need to worry if I didn’t frequent your blog coz all I would need to do is hop over on 31/12 and read that one post and voila, 2007 in a nutshell…hence, I decided to write mine as well. What has 2007 been like for me? A lot of lessons learnt and certainly, many eye openers too.

The first big news for Ted and I was when we found out that we were expecting a little golden piglet in August! [Not a very good image coz of my old crappy digi-cam but it's the original one.]

That was in Dec/Jan, and ever since I found out about the little one, I had started a new blog, Kecik’s Cozy Corner, for her to keep track of practically everything that happened during the pregnancy and now, it’s the blog I maintain for all my baby stories. I had also started my journey writing sponsored post and made quite a sum from it but with all the sponsored posts, I have lost a large number of readers, which is sad since I love getting comments and well, everyone wants to be a ’superstar’, no? But I’m stuck in that yoyo feeling between writing sponsored posts and my personal stuff because it really does bring in some cash and when you’re a stay at home mum, it’s the least you can do to rake in your own pocket money. So although I’ve cut down a lot on these sponsored posts, don’t be surprised to see a few every now and then. Did I also mention that because of PPP, my GoogleRank is now 0???? Basket betui!

In March, I returned to Malaysia for a very long holiday  – 3 months and it was because it was the last time I ever returned home ’alone’. After all, wherever I go these days, I have to bring Ella. It felt so good to be home especially with Mum and all my other relatives and friends. The glorious food was merely a huge added bonus. While I was there, I attended my bestfriend’s wedding in March. I went down to KL for that but didn’t have time to meet up with any bloggers as I had hoped.

And right after that, I was back working at my old office as a temp replacement for another friend [who took over my spot when I left] who went on maternity leave. That was another occasion that made me very happy because I got to be with my old friends and to be working in such a familiar environment was super!

Needless to say, shopping for Ella was definitely on the list. In the beginning, we didn’t know the gender and it was agreed that we would make it a surprise but I caved in! lol Turns out we were having a little girl and hence, the shopping began.

I had high hopes of getting some stuff from our trip to Padang Besar but I was very disappointed after that long journey. However, I did enjoy myself at Gua Tempurung.

In May, I celebrated pre-Mother’s Day dinner with my Mum at my Uncle’s cafe called Kofi Haven. I also got a Mother’s Day gift too! Hehehe….

After having all that fun and settling back into life in Kulim, it was time to return home to Sydney. I had to leave in June otherwise the airlines wouldn’t take me on board for being past the allowed number of weeks for pregnant women which was a bugger coz I would have loved to have stayed longer. On the other, hand I was really missing Ted and he missed out on feeling the baby move for the first time. It was a bittersweet moment for me really. But the consolation was that my sis was coming back with me and further down the road, Mum would also be with me after Ella was born, so that was all good.

Being animal lovers, we didn’t miss out on any chance of going to the zoo and petting animals. I must say that my mum wasn’t too pleased with this beach whale handling animals! lol =P I’m sure you know why…..all the pantangs la, that’s why!

The biggest and most important thing that happened in 2007 was….Ella’s birth, my first born. [Note : The birth story is rather graphic but trust me, I left out quite a bit already! It's not there to scare off potential mums-to-be because trust me, when it's your first, you'll want to find out ALL you can to be prepared but honestly, nothing you do or read will be able to prepare you for birth. ;)]

This picture was taken a week before the birth and was upload on the 11/8/2007 – in the morning! Ella was 9 days early.

The moment….

The proud Mummy and Daddy…and their little Eel.

In September, Ted celebrated his first Father’s Day and he’s very proud of it. In fact, Ella has been his inspiration for a webcomic, Kecik!, which he has been trying to put up on a daily basis but with working crazy hours, it’s not that regular. However, he tries very hard so if you’re popping by, do give him your support, ya?

On 12/9/2007, we celebrated Ella’s mor guek [sp?] which the the celebration of a baby’s first month. We invited my aunt and uncle to join us for Chinese that night.

On 17/9/2007, Mum flew back home. That was another one of those sad days for me because I had gotten so used to having her at home and her company was just something I really treasured what when you’re home alone with only a baby for company. So yes, having adult company is something I miss but, I’m still ok. I got your blogs to check out when I’m free and bored. Hehe…but seriously, there is hardly a dull moment with Ella.

In October, we began looking for a new place to purchase since we are currently renting this unit. I must say that it’s tough getting a place that you like. I absolutely love my current unit but there are issues which makes it a bad property to purchase so we are really looking hard, high and low for a new place. Even getting the finances in order had taken such a long time! Fingers crossed we will be able to settle all of this come Jan/Feb 08 coz Mum and Sis are coming out at the end of February for Ella’s baptism.

Another achievement [don't know if you can call it that or not]on a persoal note, is the fact that I’ve gotten involved with writing some articles for The Giving Hands, Pelf’s charity project. I try to write and submite an article once a fortnight so far, so good. I’ve also joined PK Tan to blog about Malaysia wildlife conservation awareness campaign and have an article ready to be posted tomorrow. Please join me and spread the word, k? To be totally honest, I’ve never gotten involved with any sort of writing like this before and I feel a personal sense of satisfaction and feeling that although it’s not much, it’s still something and I know I can do more but I prefer to take baby steps. Perhaps I will take on more challenging tasks along the rod but for now, spreading the word is the way to go.

Finally, in December, we celebrated our first Christmas together as a family. And I have been diligently playing with Photoshop and this is one of my first creations. It isn’t THAT fantastic and I’m far from being a pro but it’s a start. I don’t think I have enough imagination to start something from scratch! ;P

This is another one of my creations as well. A photo of Ella taking her first picture with Santa.

Here is Daddy with Ella posing in front of Grandma’s Christmas tree. Would you believe it if I told you that I forgot to take a family picture of the 3 of us this Christmas??? Funny how all your priorities are turned upside down when you have a little baby of your own. But it’s worth it, really.

And there you have it, my year 2007 in a nutshell. Here’s wishing you a very blessed happy new year and may 2008 be properous and more productive in any possible and imaginable way. O, and may your new year resolution [yes, RESOLUTION, not resolutionS]* come true.

*Why? I’ll tell you tomorrow.