In The Middle

My hairstylist convinced me to try out a centre parting during my haircut yesterday because in his words, "it is one of the hottest trends now". 

As someone who's been wearing a side parting since I can't remember when, I'm still struggling to get used to the new look, but these gorgeous celebrities are definitely working the centre parting! 

Pixie Lott

Scarlett Johansson

Sienna Miller

Olivia Palermo

Jessica Alba

Gwyneth Paltrow

Ashley Grenne

Photos from InStyle Uk and Cosmopolitan UK

Almost Home

Since we collected our keys, our weekends have been spent shuffling from place to place, checking out on renovation progress and settling lighting, furniture, electrical appliances and other household needs.   
 
Though our piggy banks have been emptied out, there's an immense, priceless satisfaction in seeing your home put together, like different puzzle pieces coming together, slowly but surely.

It's been a long time waiting but if all goes well, we should be moving in, in 2 weeks' time.

To say I can't wait, is an understatement. It's time to start packing, wooooooot!

P.S. I'm still on the hunt for some stuff and would appreciate any recommendations on where I can source for the following:
- A nice rug for the living room, which won't wipe out our non-existing bank accounts
- Cheap clothes hangers in black or silver. Ikea sells the black plastic at $1 for 4 pieces but those are out of stock.
- A small dark teakwood bench for us to sit down and wear our shoes

Luck - NYC Wedding Proposal

Out of this world!


LUCK - NYC Wedding Proposal from Aria Melody DJ on Vimeo.

Someone Like You by Adele

What a beautiful, heartbreaking song. I'd love to watch her live someday.

Healing Touch

Over the weekend, the husb and I went for a much needed post Mt K massage at the Healing Touch.

It was our first time there and we both opted for the Asian Fusion massage.

What I liked:
- The therapists were experienced and did a good job soothing our aching muscles. It was probably one of the best massages I have gone for.
- Unlike most other beauty/spa establishments around, there was no hard selling of packages. What a refreshing change!
- The online process of booking your appointment was fuss free.
- Reasonable pricing. It's $50 for an hour of massage.

And what I didn't like:
- No couple room at the Tampines branch. We had our massages done in separate rooms.
- You don't get to take a shower before your massage. If you're particular about this, this probably isn't the place for you.
- Partitions/walls between the rooms are thin. I could hear my neighbour lamenting non-stop to her therapist about her chronic lower back pain while the husb heard some guy snoring.
- There's no washroom at the Tampines branch, so don't forget to make a trip to the common washroom outside before you go for your massage.

Though the above points were a turn off, the massage was very good and we're willing to close an eye and come back to try their other treatments.

We Did It!

The Maldives - Above and Under The Sea

I'm leaving in a bit for the airport to catch our flight to Kota Kinabalu. But before I do so, here's a wrap up on our honeymoon with a sample of snapshots from the Diana Mini and the disposable underwater camera.

 

The Great Escape

Walking back to our accommodation, Lake George, NY

Circa 2006

Five years ago, the husb and I travelled to upstate New York to work in Six Flags The Great Escape. It was the best 4 months we've ever had.

This year, my sister is embarking on the same journey, to the same place, on the same date!

I wish we could be there to send her off at the airport on Sunday but we’ll be at Kota Kinabalu, attempting to conquer Mt K.

To my lil sis, enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity, take good care, try not to lose your valuables and don’t forget my shopping list! ;)

Stefanie Sun's Wedding Dresses

It's been close to four months since the wedding and though I have put my bridezilla days behind me, I still can't help but gush over a beautiful wedding gown (and bride) when I see one.

Singapore's home-grown songbird, Stefanie Sun got hitched yesterday and her wedding photos were featured in today's papers.

I like how she went for a simple, classic gown, matched it with a chapel veil and let her hair down to avoid looking overly mature.

But really, for me, it was her second gown for the evening which stole the show.

She wore a long-sleeved lace gown. A Grace Kelly gown!

No offence to the House of McQueen, but this dress in my humble opinion is more breathtaking.

I'm so envious she got to put on this gown. Do you know how hard it is to carry off a full lace, needless to say long-sleeved gown?

I wish she wore a different hairstyle though. Her hair looks a little unstyled, don't you think?

Photos from The Straits Times

The Wedding Outfits

In light of the recent Royal Wedding fever, I'm taking a break from my remaining Maldives entries to feature my wedding outfits from Dang Bridal.

For the morning, I wore a short made-to-measure lace cheongsam with scalloped sleeves and skirt hem, while the husband wore a black suit with a pale pink shirt, both from Tessuti and a silver tie from Topman.

Photo taken by the sister's bf

Dang had asked what colours I was thinking of for the cheongsam during my first appointment.

When I told her I wanted a bright cheongsam, like the red and blue, diamond cutout bareback one she made for Fiona Xie previously, she shook her head disapprovingly. "You can wear those cheongsams for other occasions. As a bride, you need to wear something more resplendent."

She then showed me a bale of pink sequinned lace, which I had reservations about. I'm not a big fan of pink and I was afraid of looking overtly sweet. I loved the blue and orange cheongsam Lin wore for her wedding (Dang is known for playing with bold, contrasting colours with her cheongsams) and I wanted a similar contrast of colours.

"Trust me. You will look good in this."

And with those words, I took a leap of faith.

I'm very glad Dang insisted I follow her advice because I received many accolades from family and friends. I can't thank her enough for the beautiful cheongsam and wedding gown.

Love the pink buttons that adorn the back of the cheongsam

Dang kept my morning bouquet simple by using a bunch of pale green roses tied with white lace.

I made an unconventional decision not to don the wedding gown for the morning part of the wedding. I thought it would be more practical to wear a lighter dress for the tea ceremony and I found it troublesome to change from the wedding gown to the cheongsam. More importantly, I wanted to save the best for the last. I wanted to reserve my gown for the special moment where I walked down the aisle towards the man I was going to marry.

My Mom and MIL didn't take well to this, naturally. They both felt a girl had to wear her wedding gown when she left her home to 出嫁 (get married). It was frustrating because while I didn't want to upset them, I couldn't see the big fuss about not wearing the gown in the morning. After all, it's not like I wasn't going to not wear the gown at all, right? In the end, I stuck to my guns and I'm glad I did because it poured non-stop (our wedding was the wettest day in January on record!) and my gown would have been dirtied had I decided to wear it that morning.

Next up, the wedding gown.

 

It was love at first sight, when I saw the off the rack gown at Dang's studio.

When Dang added that the gown was inspired by a similar Oscar de la Renta design, I was sold in an instant. The gown had a toga strap, made of tulle, which I asked Dang to remove, for my MTM version. For the evening, the husband wore a white shirt and a slim black tie from Zara, with his Tessuti suit. Call me biased, but I thought he looked dapper :)

The sweetheart neckline and the criss cross of tulle, over the lace bustier

Loved the details of the skirt, made of silk organza. Dang dyed the gown herself from white to off-white.

 

My wedding bouquet, made up of ivory roses and blush and pink eustomas, was also by the very talented Dang.

All photos, with the exception of the first, taken by Eadwine from Plush Photography. Please do not reproduce without permission.