January 2012

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The letter “J” and “S” you saw here was DIY by us both with a lot of help from some of our bridesmaids and their other halves!

Materials You Need

  • 2 Huge TV Carton Box (We used boxes that came with our 40 inches TV and my in-law’s 42 inches TV)
  • A whole lot of starch (Corn flour and boiling water, recall how you did it back in primary school!)
  • A whole pile of newspaper
  • Spray paint or colour paper (more environment friendly method)
  • A whole lot of patience

First, we drew the TV Carton Box into the letters we wanted. I found a font which is easy  to draw and draft it up there. Then, we cut it with a pen knife. Imagine a 3D pop up letter. This is when your geometry class comes in handy.

We then reused those styrofoam pieces that came with the TV (those that protects the TV) and placed it at an angle where it held all the walls together. If you don’t have enough of those styrofoam, try stuffing them with newspaper. As long as the walls don’t collapse it is fine.

We then put some weight at the bottom of the letters using old magazines which we rolled them up and dumped it at the bottom.

The dreadful process will start here – paper marche. Stick layers and layers of newspaper over and over and over each layer. We were so sick of it we almost gave up.

Go reward yourself with a cup of tea and a few hours of TV while it is trying to air dry itself. Then,  spray paint it or cover it in small pieces of color paper which you picked. I’m not sure how many layers you need to spray to cover the newspaper printings but we only did it once and it looks really dreadful.

Conclusion: The whole surface was rough and popping up! We can even see the newspaper printing! Looking back, I’m not sure if I will do it again. I think we overdid the DIY part for our wedding but it turned out to be a nice prop for photo (from really far away!). I don’t know what made me jump into it but it was crazy. The worst thing? We couldn’t take any pictures up close because it was horrid. HAH.

Someone spotted this at Pasir Ris and posted it on Facebook! It’s really cool! Can someone go verify it? Haha. If it is true, it is WOW, if it is not, it is still wow. Haha.

I came across an article on Fertility and thought it is really funny! Ok, but I should take it seriously!

Couples should:
• Maintain a normal weight, exercise and eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and antioxidants (I am of normal weight so is baby, but we should exercise more and I should eat more fruits, vegetables and antioxidants.)
• Stop smoking – smoking impairs sperm quality and female smokers are 1.6 times more likely to be infertile (We are both non-smokers. Baby, stop thinking of the cigar you smoked at your boss’s place)
• Limit alcohol intake to two drinks per day (If you average it out, we are surely drinking less than two a day but we are looking at 4 glasses to 0)
• Use lubricants (if they use them) which will not hinder conception (We can explore. Haha)

Women should:
• Limit coffee intake to one cup a day; high levels of caffeine are associated with decreased fertility and an increased risk of miscarriage (I don’t drink coffee but I love tea.)
• Take folic acid to prevent certain birth defects (Not yet I guess)

Men should:
• Wear loose-fitting undergarments (This is the funny one! Yes but true! Skip those skinny jeans!)
• Avoid extremely hot temperatures, such as hot tubs or saunas (Another funny one. No more trips to Japan / Taiwan for their Onsen, haha)

Cake Books.

With him all interested in baking bread, I have a sudden urge to pick up baking cakes too! My cake baking experience is an embarrassment of the century. I’m mortified by my edible but slightly lumpy Oreo Cheesecake (I call it Chunky Cheesecake), slippery strawberry cheesecake (that never set and turned into yogurt once I removed the cake tin) and my recent fruit cake episode (which was all burnt on the top).

But I am still determined (at least for a short while) to try my hands on baking again!

After a quick research online through various forums and top cake recipe authors, I’ve a list of authors who are popular among cake bakers. The “+” means the number of people who said it is good in a forum I read. After I read the reviews in eBay, Amazon and a few others, these authors are mostly good. If there is 1 person who said it is bad, I will strike it off my list. So what’s left is here, some of them gave a specific book title that is good some just listed that the author is good.

I have top 4 books which I am really interested (which I have included the pictures) but I should check it out at Kino before buying them, some of the books are really old so I got to see if the language is easy to understand. Haha.

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Nick Malgieri – Perfect Cakes (+ 5) Someone called him King of Cakes

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Tish Boyle – The Cake Book (+ 4)

Dorie Greenspan (+3)

Carole Walter – Great cakes / Perfect cakes (+ 3)

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Marcel Desaulniers – Desserts to Die for / Death by Chocolate (+ 2)

Maida Haetter (+ 2) The someone also called her the queen of cakes

James Mcnair (+ 1)

Rose Levy Beranbaum (+ 1) She wrote The Cake Bible which is well received by experience cake baker.

Anyone tried their recipes? Any other recommendations?

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We went shopping today and bought a couple of stuffs!

(1) A book on making artisan breads in five minutes. No prize for guessing who the book is for. I prefer my sweet treats! Haha.

(2) An English teapot. We are both tea lovers and we were using our wedding teapot previously which was tiny! Now with this huge English teapot we should be able to serve up tea for four!

(3) A fondue set. Always wanted a fondue set for our guests! Won’t it be nice to have a sweet wine with some chocolate fondue strawberry at our mini alfresco dining space. Haha.

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In a Mustard top ready for church! I’m glad I went church today after 3 weeks of missing service because of work commitment! Praise the Lord!

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He made us French Toast and pan fried chicken fillet for a light brunch before heading out! Thank you dear!

I read an article on Telegraph about a research done on 2,000 happily married couples which identified the key factors in maintaining a blissful marriage.

Here are some key factors which the 2,000 couples shared. As a newly married couple, we do have a lot to learn. I have dissected the article and break them down into categories. Have fun reading!

Make time for one another

  • Go on a short break together twice a year [We maintained this practice too!]
  • Eat out in restaurants at least three times a month [Baby, see it’s not that I’m a glutton!]
  • Arrange for at least five movie nights at home instead of spending the usual evening fighting over the remote control or disagreeing about what to watch [We disagree over what to watch on cable TV all the time! I love my CSI, NCIS, Hawaii-5-O, Criminal Minds and he loves all the food related channels. Perhaps a movie night might solve this problem!]

Show Physical Affection

  • Share a lingering kiss six times a week [We try to kiss each other goodbye every morning]
  • Have sex twice a week [No comment. Hah.]

Give words of affection

  • Say “I love you” up to nine times a fortnight [We do that via whatsapp, does that count?]

Have meaningful conversations

  • At least one healthy argument a week to ensure they resolve anything which is bothering them [Healthy is the key word in this sentence.]

Give each other space

  • Allow a night out with friends instead of their other half

Little Romantic Gestures

  • Cook a nice meal, take their spouse a cup of tea in bed three times a month [I should do this more often!]

Give and Take

  • Never go to bed on an argument
  • Try to turn a blind eye to irritating habits and accept each other’s fault [HEY BABY, LOOK HERE]
  • Know when to say sorry [I know sorry it’s the hardest word to say, but it is also the magic word. If you can use it to turn things around, you are a magician!]
  • Share household chores equally [I’m the lazy one, so yes, this is for me.]
  • Compromising on television schedule [I’m also the TV addict. Shucks.]

Other factors

  • Friendship with your spouse is more indicative to a successful marriage than the initial love at first sight [We are building our friendship daily, he is like my irritating roommate. HAHA.]
  • Support each other and being kind
  • Being honest
  • Retaining a degree of secrecy [A little conflicting ya. Haha.]

What about yours? What makes your relationship successful?

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We went shopping and I found a cute owl earring to add to my collection! Hoot!

How did your Chinese New Year house visiting gone? For us, we broke our bank giving red packets for the first year and combat nosy aunties asking personal questions.

As per every year, every one of a certain age group and various life stages will have to combat these nosy aunties who swoop around like a hawk asking personal questions.

  • When you are 18 years and above, single without a partner in sight, they will ask “Hey boy, where is your girlfriend?”
  • When you are 25 years and above, attached but not married, they will ask “Eh, ah boy, when you all getting married?”
  • When you are 25 years and above, married but without kids, they will ask “Eh, when you all having a dragon (may change depending on the zodiac sign) baby?”
  • When you are 28 years and above, married with one child, they will ask “Not planning for a second one?”

They have endless of questions and until you met their expectations of being married with two or more children, they will come hounding you down!

This CNY, we also met and talked to his cousin who recently conceive and is three months pregnant (congrats! And yay, all attention on them for the first 15 minutes and the glare came back to us swiftly!), made us think of our baby making plans. *STOP WONDERING* we are not ready to have a child just yet! But they got us thinking to start prepping our body for the future! According to them, it is not as simple as, “Let’s make baby”, “pssszt”, “Ooo, I’m pregnant!”. It’s unlike what’s shown on TV, people don’t just get pregnant that easily and by the time you are “ready” to have a kid, your body may take another 1 year to be ready, then another 9 months to put the baby together in your tummy and you have just spent two years before the baby is ready for collection. So this year, I will be busy exercising ( I hope!) and eating healthy for a baby perhaps 1 to 2 years down the road.

For the record, I don’t want a baby now, at this very moment, because we still hates each other at home with all the annoying habits we each have. It is taking a long time to get use to each other. I say give us 2 years, no, maybe 20 years. Also, for some selfish reasons, I want to maintain being hot and desirable (I’m assuming I still am. HAHA) and he is still very much a child inside! I can’t handle a big baby (he will say the same of me) and a tiny baby at a time!

We took some group pictures at The Armenian Church with our bridesmaids and groomsmen and I must say, the girls are hot and the guys are funny! Haha. And I have pictures to prove it! On a side note, I love Armenian Church and the greenery and yard in front of the church!

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// All pictures by Gabriel, OEC

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