23 more sleeps...

Continuing on with the count down theme - only 23 more sleeps to go!
Each day that passes, the tension just mounts that little bit more. And my poor fiance is the one who's bearing the brunt of my stress. Each evening he gets a taste of my yelling at him about petty little things.

We're both very much looking forward to the honeymoon now, where we can just sit back and relax. We'll be staying at Sala Samui - a fabulous resort on Koh Samui, plus we'll have our own private pool. We can't wait!!

Wedding Countdown!

I have started the wedding countdown. It's not that I haven't been counting down before, but it's a much more conscious once now. Before, it was yeah, over a year away, six months to go, three months left.... now it's only 56 days away!! That's not very much at all, but it is quite exciting!

Everyday day at work, I look at the calendar and count the weeks until I go on leave (7.5 weeks!).
Though I will admit that even though I'm an accountant, counting down doesn't seem to be my strong point. I was telling people that there was only 8.5 weeks to go until the wedding. The next week, I realised there was still 9 more weeks to go.

A bonus for me though - I (kind of) gained an extra week to plan!

I walked into a door

I walked into a door the other day. 


And as much as is it sounds like I'm a victim of domestic abuse, I actually literally walked into a door! hahah... 


How does one walk into a door? Well, I'm about to leave the room, but D stops me, asks me a question. After I turn back around to exit, my face smacks into the door! I seriously thought the door was open much wider than it was. 


It hurts too. I wouldn't recommend walking into a door at all. 


But if someone tells you they walked into a door, it could quite possibly be true!!

The door in question!

iphone love

I've found a fabulous app for the organisers in us all. It's called Awesome Note, and has to do, notes and diary functionality. You can even attach photos to your notes, and lock folders. 

The only app I've purchased is the 2do one. This one's even cheaper, and heaps better! I feel ripped off! :)

I also got a new case for my i-phone the other day.

Isn't it cute? My fave colour too!

I'm jealous though, because darling DM just got the 3Gs and I have the old 3G one. Can't wait till my plan finishes so I can get the latest model!

Jaffa Cupcakes

I baked mini cupcakes on the weekend, with the assistance of my sister. Those little cupcake tins are a nuisance to get the mixture into, but CL had the genius idea of piping the mix into the tins.

So I pulled out the piping bag that I received from SB for christmas (it came with a cupcake recipe book, which I used for this recipe). Silly me though, left the metal nib for pretty icing on the piping bag, so no mixture could come through!

Luckily, that bit could come off without needing to scoop any mixture out of the bag. I did the mixing and CL did the decorating... we're an awesome team!

CA - I can officially use those initials

Last year I finished my CA - ie I became a Chartered Accountant!

For those not in the know, the CA program is run by the Institute of Chartered Accountants. On completion of the program, you end up with a Post Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting. If you've completed the required service requirements, you can become a Member of the Institute.

Last week I finally picked up my membership certificate. DM was lovely and made sure that it was framed up straight away.

It's not really a green certificate - I just can't take photos... 

But it's such a relief to have finished studying.  

PS. Hope the tax exam wasn't too bad today, and good luck to everyone doing audit exam next week!

THE dress (Take 2)

A very busy weekend just went by - wedding dress shopping, birthday bbq with friends, mother's day...
(a slightly belated) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mum's out there.

The focus for this post though will be the very successful shopping trip on Saturday morning.
Despite trackwork, I made it into the city to visit Abbey Bridal - my favourite wedding dress shop - it is after all, the flagship store of Maggie Sottero. And Maggie has the most gorgeous dresses of all.

I'd had a peek in the store during my lunch break a couple of weeks back to have a look at the dresses available off the rack. And to my delight, there were plenty of dresses on sale and in my size too! So I made an appointment to come back with my trusty sister. I was a bit worried that the nice dresses might be sold, but luckily, there were a few that I wanted to try on.

The fist one I tried on was just stunning. Different from the one I'd originally ordered, but still beautiful. I tried on some other dresses to compare, but the first one was still the best. The fit was perfect! (well, except for the length, can't help being short!) It's funny how things turn out - I love this dress even more than the first one, and I have it at home already, so no worrying about whether it will be the same quality as the one in store.

The Victoria Room

Today was a fabulous girly day of High Tea - this time at The Victoria Room in Darlinghurst. Not a hen's but a birthday celebration. Make that a double birthday celebration for the fabulous Misses EW & SP. The restaurant is quite dim, but once your eyes become accustomed to the low light, you notice just what a delightful place it is that you've entered. There is a definite British Rajah feel to the place.

The room is highly decorated, with fringed lamps, palms and plenty of comfy couches and chairs! Each seating area feels like your very own private salon, where you can gather to hear the latest gossip (or on dit). It is definitely a location where dressing up would not feel out of place. 

There was a large selection of tea available, each person receiving their own little pot of warming goodness. 

We were all highly excited about sugar cubes, but disappointed by the lack of tongs!

And the food was simply scrumptious! Sandwiches, scones and sweet treats. 

Surprising that there was anything left over, but a half a mini cupcake sad and lonely.

And finally, a nicely blurred shot of the bar.

Wedding Dress Dramas

As a start, woe to my laziness! Over two months since my last post... that's just tragic!

But straight to the point - dramas with THE DRESS... How can that be so? Well, let me tell you all.

I'd made my appointment to go and try on my brand new dress for the first time. Brought along darling mum, CL & SB... (bridesmaid duties of course!) I put the dress on, and was admiring it, but my mum wasn't so sure about it. She asked whether it was the same material as the sample that I had tried on... A thought had originally crossed my mind that the organza overlay was a bit shinier (read cheaper) than I remembered. I had a brief thought of OMG don't tell me I've been ripped off with a cheaper crappier version of the dress I wanted. But I just dismissed it as crazy thoughts.

My mum was much more persistent though, and asked for the sample to be brought out so that we could compare them. Once the two dresses were side by side, it was easy to see that the material was completely different. And on closer inspection, we noticed that the lace detailing on the dress wasn't the same either. The new one that had arrived for me had a much cheaper looking detail sewed onto the dress. Such a disappointment, especially coming from what I thought was a reputable designer.

And it wasn't a cheap dress either, so it's just unbelievable that something like that would happen. But I guess many a bride wouldn't pick up on any differences. Maybe that's why there's such a long lead time between ordering and receiving the dress - the manufacturers are hoping that brides will forget the quality of the dress in the time it takes for it to arrive.

Thank God I had my mum with me, otherwise I would've just accepted the pale imitation of a dress that had arrived. On a lighter note, my mum was very amusing threatening the poor shop keepers (who I'm sure didn't know about the poor quality) with being reported to Today Tonight/ACA. We did end up getting a refund on the dress.

So moral of the story - make sure the dress that you order and receive is exactly the same as the sample that you try on!!

My Wedding Shoes

Was supposed to go bridesmaid shoe shopping on the weekend. Which we did do, but instead of buying shoes for the bridesmaids, I bought shoes for myself!

:) 

Those bows are the cutest things ever!

High Tea

Last weekend was not just about baking. It was all about eating as well!

Went to a delicious High Tea at the Sofitel Wentworth as a hen's celebration for my future SIL.

Here's the menu and I must say that I managed to eat nearly everything (bar the plain scone and the smoked salmon - though I ate an extra quiche to make up for it!)

Chocolate Cadeau
A rich dark chocolate mousse, filled with praline and top with macerated strawberries

Macaronades
Macaroons made of soft almond meringue, filled with fresh raspberry cream

Financier
Baked mini hazelnut cake, top with coffee butter icing

Gateau Opéra
Chocolate pastry with layers of almond biscuit, decadent chocolate ganache and coffee butter cream

Lemon Curd Tart
Lemon tart, sweet pastry filled with almond and lemon cream, topped with scorched lemon meringue

Wentworth Cheese Cake
Our original cheese cake recipe since the inceptions of Afternoon Tea at the Wentworth Hotel. A light joconde pastry, layered with cream cheese and finished with seasonal berries

Framboisier
Light genoise sponge layered with raspberry mousse, raspberry jelly and fresh raspberries

Scones Jam and cream
Traditionally baked scones, strawberry jam and fresh whipped cream

Mini Quiche Lorraine

Sandwiches
Smoked salmon, horse radish cream, tiny capers on brioche
Double Brie, quince and wild rocket on baguette
Cucumber, dill and sour cream
Chicken and mayonnaise

Savouries on the bottom rack - they should've had so much more savouries in my opinion! They were my favourite!

and the lemon curd tart

Baking Bonanza

I was browsing through my friend's fabulous food blog aficionado when I saw a recipe for Chocolate Pepper Cookies. Straight away I knew I had to try it out. I love chocolate, I love pepper. Sounds like the perfect combination to me!

First thing to do was melt chocolate. I don't have a bain-marie but googling how to melt chocolate helped me out - I used a glass bowl over a saucepan of water. The last time I tried to melt chocolate, I did it directly in the saucepan. A bit of a disaster - burnt chocolate chunks galore.

After I finished melting the chocolate, I re-read the recipe, and realised I should've only melted HALF the chocolate! oopss... not much I could do now - I'd used up my whole chocolate supply.

So I carried on with the recipe. Last thing to add in - the ground black pepper. I'd bought some black pepper corns that comes in a grinder bottle. 12g of coarsely ground black pepper corns - too easy. NOT the case. It took me forever to grind 12g of the pepper. Definitely buying the pre-ground pepper next time!



In the end, I added some choc chips, and after 12 minutes of baking they were perfect! Most people have loved the combination though there are still a few sceptics out there. You won't know how good they are until you taste them!

Now, I can't title this a baking bonanza if all I made was cookies. Behold my cupcakes!

Straight out of the oven....

And now turned into gorgeous butterflies.... yum!

Dragon Boating

In a bid to get fit and in shape for the wedding, I've been roped into dragon boating with my dear sister.

My first experience with dragon boating was around five years ago, when I decided to enter the dragon boating competition at Darling Harbour for Chinese New Year through my then work place. In preparation, there were a couple of training sessions before hand, which I happily attended. On the race day, it was pouring rain - but that didn't really matter, as dragon boating is a water sport, and you will naturally get wet anyway.

I had so much fun, I thought about seriously taking up the sport. I asked CL if she'd be interested in joining with me, but she was too busy at the time for additional activities. And me being my lazy self, my ambitions of being fit fell to the wayside.

Fast forward to 2010, and CL had joined Dragon Boating with a vengeance! She's been doing it for several months now, and is looking extremely fit and tan. She's been encouraging me to join her, and a few weeks ago, I finally decided to go for it again.

The first training session was full on! Definitely not as cruisy as it was when I did it years ago. There were drills aplenty! (though I may have selectively forgotten the toughness of the training from before) But I know it's all good for me, so I will persevere and see how fit I become!

THE dress

My Wedding Dress has arrived! :)

Finally finally finally. It hasn't actually been that long. I ordered it October last year I think, so it's taken 4-5 months. I went for a Maggie Sottero design. They are all so beautiful. Plus, the majority of her designs have a lace up closure which is so much better than a zip - gives you room for movement. Zips are so very inflexible, especially if there's any minor weight gain or loss.

I would put up a picture of the gown, but just in case future hubby decides to look at this blog, I'd better not. Need to maintain the surprise for him after all.

Decorative Ideas

There's just so much to plan and think about for a wedding. Well, maybe not so much if a person is super organised. But with less than 8 months to go, I should really start getting a move on.

Tonight I was looking at Romeo's Chair - they're the stylists providing the centrepieces and other decorative things for my wedding. They used to have a terrible website, but now that it's been upgraded, I almost drool every time I look at it! Their styling is divine - I have a feeling that we'll be spending more on additional things that aren't included with our package at the Marriott....

Totally off topic - I'm glad that this thing automatically saves drafts - browser just shut down on me, and luckily I didn't have to do any re-typing!

:-)

Wedding Photos

Today during lunch at work, I thought I'd take a look at the blog of the photographer I've booked for my wedding. Just to make sure he hadn't fallen off the face of the earth. The very first photo I saw, I thought - awesome, he's still as incredible as I remember.

As I scrolled through his blog, I was very surprised to see that the groom was an old colleague of mine. Several of my work-mates had gone to his wedding last year. I love coincidences like this!

:)

(photo by Daniel Griffiths Photography)

Bridesmaid Dresses!

So I got the lovely girls together to do a spot of shopping for some bridesmaid dresses. I had decided to completely stay away from bridal stores - why buy something that will be supremely overpriced? (Well, I did that for my wedding dress, but one time in my life will be ok I'm sure...)

We started our day wandering through DJs in the city - still find the clothes there too designer for me. There were some good things on sale, but not quite what I was looking for. We then moved on to Myer. I'd seen the Maticevski bridesmaid line exclusive for Myer when they first came out last year. Gorgeous dresses, and in my fave colour - purple! So I made a beeline straight to those dresses. Imagine my delight when I saw they were on sale - only $150! My fabulous BMs tried on the dresses, but to my dismay, there was one size that wasn't available in the purple - the sales assistant called all around Sydney & Melbourne searching - no luck! As a wedding is a special occassion, the sales assistant said she'd try Melbourne again and let us know how she went. There was always the option of trying to order a dress to be made direct from Maticevski.

So we decided to take a break for lunch to refuel, and then continue browsing to see if there was anything else out there.

SB had suggested Shieke would be a good shop to look at earlier in the week. I had my misgivings, as I'd always remembered Sheike to be full of very short clubbing dresses (or maybe I was thinking of Seduce?) but we went in to have a look anyway. Straightaway a dress on display caught my eye - a fabulous plum/violet/fuschia colour (I still haven't decided on the right name for that colour). It's called the five ways dress and can be worn in numerous styles. A floor length gown, there are press stud buttons on the hem and waistline, so that it can be converted to a shorter dress. The top of the dress is also extra long - so designed to enable different ways of draping/wrapping the dress around.

I'd originally seen this design from twobirds bridesmaids but at over $300, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go for it or not. So it was a lucky chance that we found a similar dress without even looking for it!

All my girls were happy with the dress, so I went ahead and bought them. My BMs though, have very kindly offered to pay for their own dresses, so I'll have to make sure I find extra beautiful accessories to gift to them.

This is a very long post on the subject of dresses, but one last thing to add - I'd asked CL (sister & maid of honour) if I could borrow her dress to do lots of colour matching. Genius that she is suggested that I ask for a fabric sample. I emailed Sheike, and I was in luck! I was so excited that when my sample arrived I was a little disappointed in the size - a strip about 1cm x 10cm. It's better than nothing though and will definitely be easy to carry around.

And easy to lose! FH tried to throw out the envelope with the sample still in it! Lucky I noticed before it went into the smelly wheelie bin! :)

Wildfire Sydney

Had a farewell lunch function for a colleague yesterday at Wildfire Sydney. Unfortunately, there was a ship docked so no views, but the food was divine!

We had the Churrasco Grill with tapas...

Menu

Flatbread with dips - the yummiest bread ever!

Tapas
- fried chicken
- white beans & chorizo
- squid
- tortilla (omelete)
- risotto balls

Churrasco
- pork
- beef
- lamb
- chicken
- chorizo
- chicken sausage
- swordfish
- prawns
- pineapple

Dessert
- Assiette
- Souffle

Drinks
- Toffee Apple
- Orange Mocha

Me being a pig, I had to try a bit of everything. It's not everyday I go to an awesome restaurant.

I was sooooo full - no dinner for me last night!

My MacBook

I have joined the apple bandwagon, and now have a brand spanking new MacBook.

I'm so excited! I haven't used a Mac since high school, but what I've seen so far (in the last couple of hours) is looking pretty good!

I don't know about everyone else, but migrating info & files over is a major pain in the bum - music, photos, documents... I wonder how long it'll take me? Will have to dedicate the weekend to setting up the laptop properly.

Photography & Videography

Photography

If I thought finding a venue was difficult, finding a photographer was just as hard. Trawling through so many sites just to try find one that is just right. And then going to meet with the photographer, to make sure you do like their photography style and the person also.

Almost from the beginning there was a particular photographer I liked. But we decided to have a look around at a few others to make sure we were making the right decision. After deciding that yes, she was the one, someone else put down a deposit for our date, before we were able to. (and this was almost a year in advance!) Disappointment! I had to start the search for a photographer again.

Luckily, I was able to find one that I loved even more (after going through numerous more websites), and I made sure the deposit was put down straight away.

Daniel Griffiths Photography

Some things to consider when looking for a photographer:
- how long will they be shooting for
- will there be just one photographer
- how long have they been in the industry for
- if you're getting an album, how many sides come standard with the package
- how much do extra sides cost
- are the high res negatives included

Videography

We had originally decided against having a professional videographer to capture our wedding as a way of saving costs. However, after viewing a friend's wedding video, and thinking a bit harder, we realised that our memories (mine especially) are not the best. I would never remember exactly what I said, or how everything looked on the day. Having a video will record moments that will otherwise dim in my memory.

Choosing a videographer was easy. Just looking at the videos that had been done previously, we knew straight away. No cheese, just a fabulous video.

DnM Wedding Films

Useful Tip: Once you've found a vendor/supplier you like, put down a deposit straight away to avoid being disappointed!

Church & Reception Venue Search

Church

The decision of which church to use was a relatively simple one. We had decided that our usual parish churches were too big for our numbers. My mum remembered there being a lovely church in Hunter's Hill. A google search revealed Holy Name of Mary & St Peter Chanel's. After going to have a look at the two, we knew that St Peter Chanel's was exactly what we were after.

Reception Venue

The search for a perfect wedding venue is a tough one. So many things to consider - location, size, price, ambience, availability of parking, quality of food. Many a day has been spent visiting one venue after another.

Things to watch out for:
- Venues that don't include GST in their prices (who does that these days??)
- Limited parking availability
- Cost of decorations - chair covers, back drops, draping
- Quality of alcohol on offer

One venue we went to gave us a showbag containing a thick glossy photo book showcasing the venue and mini bottle of bubbly. Quite evident why the prices were inflated there!

We finally decided on the Sydney Marriott at Hyde Park in the city. The best value package around in a great location.

Useful Tip: The brides and weddings thread on Vogue forums has been a fantastic starting point in searching for vendors and suppliers.

Diamonds are forever

Are diamonds forever? Absolutely! I suppose that diamonds are one of the toughest stones around, so naturally they would symbolise strength in commitment. Why the topic of diamonds? Well, I'm engaged! This is a bit of old news seeing as I've been engaged for over a year now. But, seeing as I have yet to brag about my ring online, I may as well do so now!

Isn't it just gorgeous?

I only wish I could take better photos to do the ring justice.

Specs:

Round Brilliant

Carat Weight: 0.56

Colour Grade: D

Clarity Grade: VS2

Cut Grade: Very Good.

What does all that mean? To me - I've got an awesome diamond ring! But to be a bit more technical:

Carat weight - the size/weight of the diamond

Colour grade - this inidicates the colour of the diamond. The scale ranges from D (colourless) to Z (light) with colourless being better

Clarity Grade: ranges from flawless to I3 (VS2 being Very Slightly Included)

Cut Grade: self explanatory really

Ok, so it's clear I'm not an expert on any subject, but hey I'm not professing to be. Just a little bit of background info for anyone that wants it.

Now the engagement ring has been exposed, more wedding things to come!

The Art of Cooking Chicken

Now I'm no MasterChef, not even a great home cook. I'm still in the process of learning how to cook. So here's a bit of what I've learned.

The other night dinner was had at my friend AH's house. He served up some chicken breast pieces and vegetables with cinnamon salt. Delicious! The chicken was soooo tender. Why was mine never like that? Well, obviously tough chicken is overcooked chicken. This I discussed with AH and he came up with these suggestions & tips:

- only turn the chicken once
- make sure the oil is hot
- watch the chicken as it cooks up, then turn over.
- test the biggest piece to see if it is cooked, then you know all of it is done
- don't cook for too long!

I know that most people will probably find this all to be common knowledge. But for someone like me who has little knowledge of cooking, it was very exciting to be able to serve up chicken that was not chewy.

Taoist Home

What is this Taoist Home?

A very special restaurant in Kingsgrove serving fusion asian food. From the outside, it looks like a very non-descript shop. Once you enter, you find yourself in a cozy home. With three different dining areas, each with its own theme (ancient china/80's china/modern china) you'll be in for a treat.

Many of the decorative items are for sale. There's also a library of Chinese books available to peruse. And then there's Neko. Your host for the evening. No ordinary host - he's a gorgeous cat that graces the restaurant.

A set menu is served, but this changes often, and is a veritable feast. Last night I went and we were served the following:

Fresh Grapefruit Juice
Chinese Tea
Taro chips
A Scallop dish (with a sesame oil type dressing)
salted squid I think it was - white strips that are chewy and very tasty
Corn & crab meat soup
Sushi - one with avocado and tofu, another with raw prawns
Fried salted fish
Mussels in a spicy tomato sauce
Tempura prawns & vegetables
San Choy Bau type thing
Chinese Spinach
Katsu
Rice with that delicious Japanese type seasoning - sesame and other stuff
Cocount & Green Tea pudding

All of this food, and at a very reasonable price. I wish I was more of a food connosieur so I could describe the meals with accuracy, and do them justice. Unfortunately, I'm not, so the above descriptions will have to do. But I would highly recommend this restaurant.

Check out its facebook page for more details and some photos.

I can't wait till the next time I feast there.

The World of Blogging

Having read numerous blogs (ok, maybe just a few) and hearing so much hype about them, I figure it's time that I try my hand at maintaining my very own blog.

So here goes!

Welcome to my blog. I envision that this will be an outlet for me to rant about all the things that get me narky, stress about my upcoming wedding and just ramble about anything that takes my fancy.

And now future hubby is eagerly awaiting the use of this laptop (and I'm waiting to order a new one for me!) so I'll leave it at that for now.

fifi-m
xoxo