The gift of giving

I think Mark is one gorgeous boy.

I meant Mark the retired racehorse.

Despite often telling people in a patronising manner that I work for the sake of earning a keep, I've sought another perspective - to change people's lives for the better, be it during or after office hours. Thank you to all the people who gave me the wings (and horses) with which I can deliver smiles to faces. Despite some disappointments and the misses, I'm more than grateful for this opportunity to give and learn. And thank you to Gallop Stable for making all this possible. :)

The new education

Before you think I've lost my way while basking in the rosy glow of post-coital post-marital bliss, I have to do justice to married life and clarify matters. My life as a Missus did not change drastically, fortunately or unfortunately. Being married, however, opened up a whole new paradigm, an uncharted path ahead.

But we're still behaving crazy, all the same. We bicker, throw words at each other like imbeciles and boil our little cauldrons of jealousy every now and then. It takes two sane minds to get married, and two insane minds to stay married. It's through some of our exchanges that I learn more about myself - the double standards, the foolhardiness and other bad habits I should be quitting.

Life will never be the same, though. I said this with the understanding that life should never remain the same as it was before "I do". Instead, it should mean taking even more leaps of faith, be it with each other or with life. Married life has urged me to proactively explore many more priceless experiences - conducting a food blogging workshop to share my interest with students from my alma mater, completing another run as a Missus, speed-travelling, and sharing my love for photography. And I'm guessing it won't stop there.

I'm just getting warmed up here.

And we wed

It's surreal, but we're now Mr. and Mrs. :)

No matter how much we tried to establish plans and draw up detailed schedules, none of us were prepared for the moment I step out onto the balcony with all eyes on me, including those of the man who is now my husband.

Both of us agree that marriage is a challenging new phrase of life; no one will lay the bricks of this road of marriage for us, and no one prepared us for this uncharted path ahead of us. Until death do us part, it will a continuous learning journey for us, as we proceed from this moment on.

To everyone who gave our beautiful union your blessings, thank you. :)

9 days

We're down to the final countdown of 9 days to our solemnisation. I've never had feelings so absurdly confounding before. A large part of me yearns to marry this amazing man and be his amazing wife immediately, while the other iota of me wishes it hadn't been so soon because there are a thousand things that we could perfect for our wedding solemnisation if it had just a few more months later. This isn't pre-marital depression or any similar shit. It's just my inner Virgoan trying to be an arse. The Husband-To-Be would probably roll his eyes a million times over while reading this.

Anyway, out of boredom on a Saturday afternoon (without the inclination to get work done), I thought I should share some acronyms that I've learnt as a Bride-To-Be:

AD: Actual Day (Wedding)
BTB: Bride-To-Be
ER: Engagement Ring
HTB: Husband-To-Be
MUA: Make-up Artist
PG: Photographer
VG: Videographer
WR: Wedding Ring

... As well as the other set that I will have to learn after 17 June 2013:

FIL: Father-in-law
MIL: Mother-in-law
SIL: Sister-in-law

:)

It's been some time

Initially, I wanted to start off with an apology for not posting religiously. Then again, it's not like I'm living off the viewership of this blog, so screw the apology.

Been up to a dozen different things over the past 2 months, with the main bulk of non-office hours spent on the race against time to prepare for our wedding solemnisation and striking stuff off my bucket list before marriage life takes over. But then again, it isn't like anything is going change apart from the new ring on my finger, is it?

Bucket List Item: To the land of cosmetic shops

To be honest, I had agreed to go on my maiden trip to Korea with the besties only because I thought that it would be cool if all of us could go on an overseas trip together before we got married. The one of us chose to drop out of the idea because she had but just 9 months to prepare for her entire wedding. That crushed half my enthusiasm for the trip, and I would have dropped out too if it hadn't been for the fact that I had splashed a good amount of money on the airfare and accommodation. Plus it wouldn't be nice to go back on your promise, right?

But the trip was a true eye-opener, no less. Shall reserve my raving and ranting in a separate post, lest I choke up page.

Bucket List Item: Hail the Blue Moon

Please let me live this fangirl moment before I become too old for this.

I got the wind knocked out of me when my K-pop junkie sis told me that CNBlue was heading to Singapore as part of their Blue Moon World Tour. I've never looked at CNBlue the same way as the other Korean music groups, for the simple reason that they live off their own individual musical talent, and come together as a group to create beautiful music. I didn't know a single word of Korean prior to knowing CNBlue, but their music flowed through to me like it knew no boundaries. It was a truly beautiful night to remember this lifetime, because I got to watch these amazing boys work their magic at the Indoor Stadium. 고마워요. :)

(Credits: Lee Jong Hyun)

Bucket List Item: Murder on the Dance Floor

So... I'm currently into this thing called Zumba, which is a brave feat for someone who has two left feet. It sounds somewhat frivolous, but every session never fails to leave me breathless but dying for more. So apparently I've taken up K-pop dance lessons, but my two left feet and goldfish memory does not seem to agree with me on this, especially after struggling through the first session. We shall see how the next 8 lessons progress (if any).

Bucket List Item: Run Unleashed

The Nike Women's Run was a timely reason for me to drag myself out for regular runs in view of the ROM. With my colleagues and 8,000 other brave women, we conquered the whole 5 km, stretching from Gardens By The Bay East to the Marina Barrage to the Gardens West and back. I managed to shave 10 minutes off my previous run record, though the timing I clocked was still short of ideal. Oh well, there's always next year. :)