*The Ideal Marriage for both of us*

As part of my work, i had the opportunity to attend a talk on, Pre-Marriage Preparation titled, "Myths and Magic of Love and Marriage". It was indeed interesting and enlightening, especially for someone life me, who will be jumping on the bandwagon very soon.

It was nice that Shenn and Nic agreed to attend as well, as i think it is really good to attend such course to prepare yourself for married life.

Many key points were mentioned, a few left a deep impression on me:

1. What is your ideal marriage?
This question seems so simple, but no one could answer. So, what is our ideal marriage gonna be? It will definitely not be a bed of roses. So what issit going to be?  After much consideration, a few pointers came up, commitment, trust, communication, striving happily together.. etc.

2. There are 5 Love Languages
Different people show their love differently. And this very point, could lead to problems and miscommunication / unhappines, if the couples' love language are different. Which is always the case... Eg, somepeople need to show physicial affection as their form of love, while others show their love through encouragement verbal words. If not well understood, person A might think that Person B only knows how to talk, but no action, and vice versa. Therefore, to recognise, and show loves through different languages.... (Not just bite!)

3. Gender differences
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. How true. Men and Women are made differently. They behave differently as well. Mutual respect is important.

There were many more said and taught, but i guess right now, these are just a few key points to remember and note...

Till Then..

Love,

Bryan & Rowena

*Photo-Shoot Venues*

What is the event that will make couples excited about it, plan, research & look forward to before their customary wedding ceremony ? My guess will be....

PRE-WEDDING SHOOTS

As to why i will say that, it's simply because that is eactly what both of us had been doing for the past 2 weeks !! Research, research & more Research !!! We've been trying to think of ideas and places to go for our Pre-Wedding Shoot !! Perharps you can categorize us as the UNIQUE or WEIRD Couple. Why ? Simply because we're trying to be away from the Norm. No Wedding Gowns is for sure, be in casual clothings, getting our bridesmaids and bestmen for the shoot as well are part of our plans !!! We even had ideas going to have the shoot in the GYMS & KITCHEN !!! That's because these are the things that revolve around our daily life together ! We simply love to cook for one another/together & definitely Gyming too !! 

In fact before all the above ideas, we had a crazy idea before !! The Pre-Wedding Shoot will be based on our Love-Story, where it all began !!! Guess what !! It's NDP 2009 !!! Venue will definitely be KRANJI CAMP where we met & FLOATING PLATFORM where we spent most of our weekdays and weekends together!!! (It'll never happen)

Well, anyway, some of the places we have been browsing through the internet and getting information from MARRIED COUPLES, there are a few interesting places to go to. Places like Portdowns Road Wessex Village, Sunset Way Railway, Changi Broadwalk, Henderson Waves, Hort Parks, Marina Barraage, Punggol Lallang Field, Emerald hill...etc We even had plans for Museums !! The pictures tells a lot !!

Changi Beach

Henderson Waves

Punggol Lallang Field

Sunset Way Railway

Portsdown Road Wessex Village

As the saying goes, Seeing Is Believeing !! Hence, we decided to have an excursion to the places that we note of this weekend !!!

Love,

Bryan & Rowena

*The Dinner Meeting*

Organising Events, Attending Meetings, Annual General Meetings, Networking Dinners, Socializing Meetings, Holding Meetings, Giving Speeches were easy feat & tasks to Rowe & Me

Though we're not professionals that eat, play and sleep with such tasks daily, but we still do have lots of chances and have a abundant of experience organising such events. But this is one Event/Dinner where we cracked our brains and millions of cells are killed, yet we have no idea how to go about it !! What is this Event ??

Thats... .... .....

OUR FAMILIES MEETING FOR WEDDING DISCUSSION OVER DINNER


The Planning process for this event is definitely tougher than any other events that we've planned before.

1. The guest list was reduced to parents from both side, rowe's grandparents and grandmother. With less people (My Bro & his wife, Rowe's Bro & Gf) involved, means less topics !!!!!!
2. Language barrier (Different use of language for communication)
3. Choice of place
4. Choice of food
5. Wedding Discussion (Both of us are noob to this !!! And our parents want it to be simple to the extend nothing to ask for !!)

After months of planning, just the night before we flew to Bangkok, decision was made !!

09 October 2010, Saturday, 1830Hrs, Arena Tung Lok Seafood Ala Carte Buffet

The entire meeting was totally like driving a car !!! Though both our parents met before, previously when my dad was admitted to hospital & when my mum met Rowe's family at the airport, we started off with a cold engine. Hence, i plug in the key and turn on the engine by introducing my parents and grandmother to Rowe's Parents & Grandparents. And things started to warm up. Small conversations between my grandmother and her grandparents and my parents with her parents started to kick in. Rowe and I were still worrying about facing a cold stage and try to create topics for them.

We arrived at the restaurant and were seated at our reserved table. Rowe and I decided to accelerate a little to move pass the S-Course and move on to the smooth road ahead. Hence, we took the orders for the night. True enough. when the food arrived, we're out of the S-Course and we're on the straight road to our future !! Everyone was enjoying the food served at Tung Lok Seafood and topics were created naturally. This proved that out worries were unnecessary !! We had a smooth 3 hour of journey down our parents & grandparents' memory lanes which i had enjoyed listening to. Of course we had a peek into our FUTURE which was the main topic of the night !!

To cut things short, we had agreed on what to do and exchange for formalities on the day of 过大礼。The dinner was such a success that we're the first table to be seated and almost the last table to leave the restaurant !! My mum and grandmother had certainly enjoyed a night of conversation with Rowe's Grandmother ! I had to jam the brake !!! Otherwise, conversation would never have ended ! We bidded farewell with the approval from her paretns & grandparents to entrust Rowe (their 心肝宝贝)'s happiness to me !!

From here on, we'll start to plan for our Wedding Gown, Suit & Shoot. Meeting our photographer & designer on 22nd October. Til then... .... ..

Love,

Bryan & Rowena

*The Nest*

"What is the one thing you think about when you yawn*, smell the rain outside*, your eyelids are having difficulty holding up*?"

Answer:

THE BED

Satisfaction Guaranteed!

We are just such an oddball of a couple! While all typical going-to-marry couples are busy preparing their wedding, researching on all other things related to their one big day, we, on the other hand, were researching with much enthusiasm for ... THE BED.

THE BED, is an important part of our life, we spent a good 1/3 of a day on it. OR, most of the week ends on it... SO, shouldn't it be of top priority? Doesn't matter that Bryan stays in camp most of the night, and I, am far away over at the East Coast.. and THE BED, will only be utilised over the weekend.. IT WAS STILL TOP PRIORITY!

We were contemplating what kind of bed to get. There were just to many choices in the market.

Thank goodness we had a clear idea what we wanted:

CRITERIA:

1. Good for our back (As we both have back pains)
2. Big enough for the both of us (We are currently squeezed on a super single, and a KING is too much.. we would probably lose each other on it!)
3. Not too soft (We don't wish to melt into it)
4. Storage facilities (Limited space, too many things)
5. Build in cooling function (Too much heat going on in SG)
6. MOST IMportantly ~ AFFORDABLE ~ 

I guess, with a clear objective and focus, we went out on our hunt for THE BED.

We went to Expo while they were having their furniture sale... pounce on a large variety of bed,

went to Ubi to pounce on even more beds, IMM to leave our body impression, Toa Paoyah Courts to test, at the very end, we still headed back to the good ol' Expo after 2 months of searching.

Gone were the days of limited variety, flat spring beds eg, King Koil *Doooiiinnngg*

In the market, there are big names like, Simmons, Serta, Posturepedic ... just to name a few. Each bed comes with never before seen "technology" and unbelievable "price tags".

There are also lesser known ones like Maxcoil..

So many choices, but at the end, we found THE BED, with good ol' Slumberland.

Did not burn a hole in our pocket and comes with decent "technology".

It was a happy choice and we bought on the spot!

And days after that, all we could think about was THE BED...

Post bed shopping dilemma

Getting the bed was one thing, thinking of how the bed could fit the room was another.

There were many rounds of shifting of furniture within the 4 walls of Bryan's room.

Tons of stuff to throw to accomodate THE BED, and more importantly, the new lady boss thats coming in a few months!

Then next, comes buying of Bed sheet cover. It doesn't help that bed sheet covers of good quality comes with an equal "good price" $$$. We looked a little, and realise, the cost really has no justification.

BUT, not forgeting that lady boss loves shopping, and bed sheet cover happens to be one of her soft spot. And by chance 1 evening, we dropped by our favourite place, Expo, and found the best deals for good quality bed sheet covers!

**NOTE: Only buy bedsheet covers during such mega sale at Expo! Super worth it**

On 4th October, a day after returning from Bangkok, it was what we have been waiting for, delivery of THE BED. Excitedly, we woke up "earlier than expected" to wait for its arrival.

After it was fixed in, to our awe, its nice, new headboard and storage area, clean and white mattress... our eyes sparkled! But, with one problem, it turned out SOooo HUGE! And we had to spend the remaining day shifting the furnitures within the room to accomodate it.

And after a long day, when we finally lay in THE BED, all that we had gone through for it was worth it, its firm, yet comfortable, with our new comforter, gone are those days of squeezing, snatching of blanket from one another, and falling off of beds...

Till then....

Love,

Bryan & Rowena

*Back From Bangkok*

Back from Bangkok !!! Broke from Bangkok too !!! Haha !! But it was a great short getaway, great recovery from the hectic lifestyle we have from working in Singapore..

Though our stay in Bangkok is only a short 3 days, we've accomplished more than what we had set out before our trip !! It was a great fulfilling trip with lotsa food, shopping and visiting of places. Most importantly, we've fulfiled our primary objectives, that's shopping for our Wedding Stuff !! We're quite fortunate to find all the things we wanted at Chatuchak Market. Things like purple paper flowers, leaves, fans, bubble guns and decorative knick knacks.

Old School Fans

Paper Flowers & Leaves

Bubble Guns

Knick Knacks Gifts

There're alot more things like chandelier, nice furnitures, lightings and curtains that we wanted but our flat will only be ready in 2014/15. Nvm, we can always make another trip in future !! Bangkok is really a great place to do Wedding Shopping. Exquisite wedding gifts, decoratives and boxes are everywhere ! Do make a trip if you're thinking of shopping for ideas !

Besides shopping, we've done a walkaton in the 3 days too ! We've covered Chatuchuk Market, Suan Lom Night Market, Pratunum Night Market, Patpong Night Market, Platinum Mall, Siam Square, Central Mall, Siam Paragon, MBK, Pratunum Mall and SOKA Centre in Thailand ! We've tried walking to all these places. Lots of shopping and walking comes with lotsa Food as well !! Bangkok, Land of the Hot & Spicy, never gonna miss out the Tom Yum Soup !!, Thai Green Curry Beef, Thai Green Curry Chicken, Phad Thai, Thai Fried Rice Noodle, Thai Seafood In Coconut & lotsa more !! These are the stuff to replenish our energy to go for more ! Haha !! Here are some photos ! Picture still paints a thousand words..

Tom Yum Soup At Baiyoke Sky Hotel

Thai Green Curry Beef At MBK Sumo Restaurant

  

Tom Yum Soup At MBK Sumo Resraurant

Fried Rice Noodles At MBK Sumo Restaurant

Thai Seafood Curry Cooked In Coconut At MBK Sumo Restaurant

Phad Thai At MBK Sumo Restaurant

Thai Fried Kway Teow At MBK Sumo Restaurant

Meat Ball Noodle Soup At Baiyoke Sky Hotel

Grill Scallops At JJ Mall

Phad Thai At Baiyoke Sky Hotel

Thai Green Chicken Curry With Roti At Baiyoke Sky Hotel

Dining in the restaurants and hotels in Bangkok definitely gives a certain standard in the food and services served. However, we always believe that going to such cuntries, eat like the locals will definitely bring u another type of feeling and that is the kind of feel we loved !! We're more adventurous and love to join in the locals to dine by the road side stalls which many people won't.

Fried Rice With Chicken At Suan Lom Night Market

Stir Fried Kang Kong At Suan Lom Night Market

Roast Chicken At Suan Lom Night Market

Mango Salad At Suan Lom Night Market

Glutinous Rice At Suan Lom Night Market

Fried Sotong At Suan Lom Night Market

Chicken Satay At Suan Lom Night Market

Fried Sliced Bananas Along Siam Road Side

Fried Bananas Along Siam Road Side

Fried Quail Eggs Along Siam Road Side

Walking vs Taking Cabs & Tuk-Tuks has its advantages too !! While we're venturing along the Siam District, something amazing caught our eye !! Welcome to the GRAND OPENING OF KRISPY KREME !! How can there be Krispy Kreme in Thailand and not in ours !! Haiz..

Anyone who has tasted KK's Donuts know that its the BEST in the world and they have never failed to get both of us yearning for more after having it. To our surprise !! Never knew the Thais are even more into it !! They have been queueing for a box of KK's Donuts even before the shop is opened for business in the morning !! For the queue that's snaking out from Siam Paragon was initially thought to be Iphone or Hello Kitty's fever. We're Wrong !!! 

Krispy Kreme At Siam Paragon

Look At The Queue !!!

In between all the shopping and walking around, there's time for us to do one of our favourite past time as well. That is to chill out in a nice cafe, have a nice cup of coffee & tea and savouring a nice piece of cake !! We tested out Jim Thompson who is famous for their silk products, but not their cafe. We're quite surprised that they do have a nice place to chill out and serve exquisite desserts as well !!

Jim Thompsom Cafe At Central Mall

Jim Thompsom Cafe Lemon & Peach Cheese Cake At Central Mall

Jim Thompsom Cafe Earl Grey Tea At Central Mall

Jim Thompsom Cafe Cappucino At Central Mall

Jim Thompsom Cafe Walnut Muffin At Central Mall

With all these done in our itinerary, of cos to end off each day with a nice massage ! Massage is darn good and CHEAP !!! We've gone for massages, of cos no hanky panky, for all 3 days !! Foot massages and Thai full body massages !! And for all 3 days of massage, it was only 2000 Baht for 5 hours for both of us !!! Where to find such rates in Singapore ??? And we end off our short getaway to Bangkok with a foot massage as well !!

Love,

Bryan & Rowena