Siu~V: July 2010

It was time for another get-together in celebration of CKO's birthday. This year, I jumped at the opportunity to introduce the gang to Old Hong Kong Kitchen; a place that I've been mentioning to various people various times.

We got ourselves nicely seated at a table right in the middle of the restaurant, where prompt service was readily available.

Despite serving piping hot meals at a reasonable price of RM 10.90/ dish, the food itself were excellent in taste - 100% satisfaction guaranteed!!

I only managed to capture 3 of our dishes that night :(

- the food was disappearing FAST and my greediness got the better of me.

Forget the conventional peanuts and chips, this place serves D BEST TIDBIT version I've ever tasted in a Chinese restaurant! I could imagine eating plates and plates of it like a meal or something.

We went for the extreme - 10 dishes for only 11 of us!

Sure the servings were not quite enough for a second helping (and mostly served in mini claypots, dunno why), but we were going for 'variety' and as it turned out, every single one was YAmeh!

(Recommendation 1 : 'Fried Bittergourd with Salted Egg' is the BEST in the WORLD!!..ok,maybe 'MY' world)

(Recommendation 2 : 'Deep fried Pork Ribs in Salad Sauce' another must - try)

The food will smell so freaking good, this naturally becomes a normal reaction of those at the dining table:

(drooling effect not shown here for hygienic reasons)

The celebrated glam pair of the night definitely - CKO and wifey, Siew Hwa

Mr and Mrs 'wana-pan-cute' - Woo and wifey, Agnes

The pair that 'could be' or 'can be'?? (jk..jk) - Derek and Pat

Me with my girls who need no further intro (if you've been my ardent follower :D)

Me and dear who would absolutely fail in an audition for a toothpaste ad with that terrifying smirk on his face

And to our other friend, Su Hua.....Just because you were holding the camera AND didn't want to be photographed that night, dun think I couldn't find a picture of you to put here!

Wanting to do something a little different, we got the birthday boy a Jelly cake from Q-Jelly. Me and Derek picked it out in a flash as soon as we saw this Ben10 creation who resembled so much like CKO.

(We of course told CKO a different story - that it was specially designed by the jelly-makers according to a photo of him....hmm wonder if he bought that version)

dun play with your food boy!

Sticking it right where it belongs - like a ciggie in the mouth. Utterly cute!

The part that comes after blowing out the birthday candle was quite a mind-boggling one, this time.

At times, even nerve-wracking.

But still, it HAD to be done.

No pain, no gain

No cut cake, no eat cake!

The results of an autopsy on the left side of the head is looking more colorful than ever.

Group photo and why is everyone so engrossed with the cake ler..

That's better! :)

The jelly, even though quite pricey (due to the work put in it) was pleasant to eat like a dessert after dinner and thankfully not that sweet.

We spent almost 2 hours chit-chatting after our dinner table was cleared as Jin began entertaining our camerawoman

and then dear joined in too..

until we caught him on camera unintentionally pointing with his middle finger.

I also tried making monkey faces.....

...FAIL!

Let's just say I was about to yawn.

You know what they say about taking at least 2 years to really get to know your boyfriend/ girlfriend before settling down?

Or is that just what I think.

Little did I know that mine would last a mere 8 months before I leap into that next stage in life.

And little did I dream that one day, I would be opening my door to a wedding proposal sung to the tune of Taylor Swift's "Love Story". On guitar.

In the public corridor of my condominium.

What's funnier, just seconds before, I was staring through my door's tiny peephole, and all I could make out was a blurry vision of what looked like a beggar without legs with a guitar sitting outside my door. "Wow, really admire this beggar who came up 16 floors to beg for money!", I thought to myself.

So you can imagine how I stunned I was at what was to come :)

You read all these stories about people trying to outdo one another with the most creative marriage proposal - mostly spending a lot of money during the process. Sure mine can not be compared to a dude who publicly proposes to his girlfriend using the PA system in a plane full of strangers, but who cares as long as the outcome is the same -a spontaneous, quirky yet memorable proposal. And of course a POSITIVE feedback!

Mmm, I love surprises...

Only pleasant ones, please.

What happened next was not the typical ritual of date picking, wedding studio selection nor restaurant booking.

Thanks to our real sporting parents (and probably our pure 'laziness'), the theme of our wedding was simply.... SIMPLICITY.... ^>^

Which means in our context, it was gonna be a wedding done our way; spick-and-span, fast and hassle-free minus the traditional mumbo jumbo stuff. No sweat.

Since there wasn't to be any grand wedding reception, we decided to have a ball on the day of our ROM (Registration of Marriage) and to get as many photos possible during the ceremony. Gotta at least give dad something to frame up on his wall.

As early as 6am on the morning of our ROM, my makeup artist and hairstylist, Cyndi arrived 4 hours ahead of my ROM time slot.

She selected the best au naturel look for me to have that morning while I chose to wear this particular hair style. And I don't care if my dear says it looks like I'm wearing a toilet flush on my head(!).

I SO love the makeup Cyndi did for me and if you do too (after seeing more pictures to come), then feel free to book her at 012-5868 922. Don't forget to mention my name yah.

8am - We were all dressed up, ready to go!

Love the white rose dress dear picked out for me. Don't you think it looks like some rented designer bridal dress?

Got it at a really good price in ..you wouldn't believe it...Ampcorp Mall in PJ.

Now you know where our rings came from...no free advertising ah.. :p

and check out my cutesy cartooney bedsheet - a gift from my sis-in-law.

Cool bling-bling from the parents

Practise first, practise first...

I like this 'from above' take.

Time to hit the road

Don't forget the ICs and Birth Certs.

Stressed out? Just sing away the bluez...

Arrived at the destination.

The Thean Hou temple in KL

It was a super HOT day; so hot that's me walking away.

Ever seen a 30-rose hand bouquet? Mine had to be the biggest bouquet that day. Thanks sis for getting me the flowers.

Mark starting to get a little vain, perhaps? teehee..

This huge black ribbon was the only thing keeping my dress up and my friend Fong did a great job tying it REAL tight. Can't afford to have a wardrobe malfunction now, can we.

I know I have this wise old man to thank for this special occasion. No, I dun mean Mark.

Now you get to see some candid shots of ours.

It wasn't easy trying to pose with the blazing sun shining down on us the entire time.

But at least I could still open my eyes, unlike my other half. lol.

This was me trying to look cool.

Coz I was finally under the shade!

This was where all the happy couples lingered around while waiting for their turn to be called in. I've got friends and family scattered all over this picture. Try spotting me!

Nevermind the food court setting in the background (!), I'm glad I've got my best buddies by my side.

Dad and future dad-in-law pointing fingers at each other.

I'm not sure what they were discussing though.

I really like whatever effect this is. hmmm...

Looks like I'm standing in front of a street market in HK or something.

I look constipated, dunno why.

Yin and her camera's 'blow-up' effect. Haha, cute. Should have focused on my boobs mah.

My expensive flowers deserves to be mentioned again! (Or my sis just needs to be credited again) lol

Close up of my bouquet, specially designed to suit my dress.

Little did we know there was to be a rehearsal with both dads as our witnesses before the actual ROM ceremony.

Some seeeeeeeriuzz discussion going on here...

They were probably discussing whose signature was the nicest.

Can't remember what magic trick Mark was trying to perform here.

Me and good 'ol Daddy!

What, this flimsy thin piece of blue A4 paper is our Marriage Cert??

My kindergarten graduation certificate had better quality!

Out of the nowhere, we were both asked to write our names in Chinese characters. *gulp*.

I think I wrote it quite well, eh? Thanks for not giving me a complicated Chinese name, Dad.

Here, we were just happy to be lucky couple no 8 to be married that day.

This photo of me and beloved mum is actually my favourite of all.

I can honestly say looking at this photo brings tears to my eyes.

Seeing the admirable wrinkles on mum's face made me realise all the hardship, trials and tribulation she went through in her life to put me where I am today and to make me who I am today.
I would be ever so grateful if I could one day be half the mother she is. (sniff)

After rehearsal was over, we were asked to wait a short while before entering the ROM chamber. (haha, i used 'chamber' coz ROM room sounds weird).

So, everyone sort of wandered around the area just to pass time, chit chatting, taking more photos, checking if the rings were still there,

or just catching up on Hollywood hottest gossips.

I guess the wait also gave Mark butterflies in his stomach.

Shortly after, we adjourned into the room to begin a 10-minute press conference between the 2 nations.

Kidding, kidding!

It does seem like one, doesn't it? And little Buddha's head looked so much like a mic placed in front of Mark. LOL

We both exchanged wedding vows, making a sacred promise to love each other and stay committed to each other till blah blah do us blah blah...and the rest of the mushy lines that'll just give you goosebumps if I go on. ^.^

Frankly, I couldn't recall 80% of the things the marriage registrar read to me (0_0)

I think there was something in it that said from hereon, my husband will

do as I say,

say as I do,

earn as I spend,

work as I play?

(hmm, that sounds just right)

Then again, D most important moment was the 'i do's of course! Right, dear? (wink wink)

Then came the signing of a very important piece of agreement.

Gee, I felt like I was signing my life away. Plus half the time, I was telling myself, 'steady steady when signing..you only get one chance so dun make it your ugliest signature ever'.

It all felt a little too formal and 'acted-out' for me. In other words, a bit geli.

For those who brought rings, we were also allowed to exchange them at this point of time.

Thank God I wasn't THAT nervous and my fingers weren't shivering coz we had to do it in real slow-motion and freeze for a few seconds in order to get an excellent shot like this!

And THIS was just because you guys wanted it! cheeky ... ^.^*

And just like that voila!, it was all over.

It was a done deal and we officially became Mr and Mrs Lim!

I'm now a missus and it makes me feel old..lol.

Dun worry, I'm starting to get used to it dear! >.<

Flower arches like this remind me of what our parents used to pose with in photo studios during their wedding days. Simply nostalgic.

After what seemed like a looooong time (going into extra time dy) in the room, I think the registrar was starting to get a little impatient and about to shoo us out.