The Wedding Blog of Flying Paper & Barneysaurus

MiniMi's Photoshoot

2012-01-14T10:21:00.000+08:00

Hi all Kors Kors and Jies Jies,

Today is a post of my photoshoot! My Mama and Papa signed me up for a photoshoot session with StudioPlay during a Baby Fair when I was 6 months old. The actual photoshoot took place in Dec when I was 8 months old =)

I was just like a celebrity at the photoshoot session! There was professional lightnings and props!! During the whole photoshoot session, Mama and Papa were standing behind the photographer trying to make me laugh and to look at the camera, hee hee. I was also made to change into different sets of clothings which I don't really enjoy... so troublesome to change in and out but I guess this is the price to pay for lots of cute photos =)

Generally, I had fun and I smiled a lot in front of the camera! However, towards the end, I was getting tired and I tried to crawl away whenever Mama put me back in front of the camera... Things get bored after sometime right? haha...

Here are some of my favourite shots to share =)

Happy 2012 to Everyone :)!!!!

2011-12-31T22:37:00.002+08:00

The MiniMi family wish to wish everyone a Happy 2012 :)! May everyone find it a meaningful year where hopes and dreams are realized :)! This year is very special because of that very special bundle of joy that has come into our lives :)….

Besides world peace, eradication to world hunger and pollution, here’re my hopes for 2012 personal front :)!

1) MiniMi will continue to grow big, strong, clever, healthy, and happy :)!!!!

2) My Dearest Wifey will have no more backaches! I think more KFC trips will help :)

3) We’ll strike Toto :)!!!! Actually, we did managed this last week, but the winning amount was $20 lah, haha…. Don’t gamble, gamble is baadddddd :D!!!!

And I resolve to blog more about MiniMi and my lovely Wifey, yeah :)!!!! Happy 2012 everyone :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus, Flying Paper, with our MiniMi :)!!!!

My milestones again!

2011-12-22T21:05:00.001+08:00

Hi all,

It's been a long while since I blogged!! I have been busy playing around and exploring new things =)

Besides eating semi solid food, there are quite a few milestones that I have achieved so far!

When I was about 7 months plus, I surprised my Papa and Mama by suddenly standing up with the support of the cot railings!

I started to make more sounds too. Currently, my favourite sound is "Mum Mum" but I'm not referring to Mama. I'm referring to food, hee hee..... i like to eat!!

At 8 months, I know how to clap my hands!! When I feel happy or just having nothing to do, I will clap my hands. I also like to pull people's hands together to clap, haha....

I am approaching 9 months, I am much more active and cannot stand people carrying me for too long. I will struggle to get out. However, as I still can't stand on my own or walk, sometimes I will become unstable and fall in my playpen. Luckily there is playmat, if not I will have a lot of bruises... haha

Signing off for now,
Love from MiniMi!

The Milestones of MiniMi: Starting on Semi-Solid Food :)!!!!

2011-11-12T21:06:00.001+08:00

Hello everybody :)!!!!

Thanks to everyone who prayed for MiniMi’s good health :)! We are glad to inform everyone that MiniMi is back to his usual energetic self already :)!!!! In fact, he recorded several milestones over the last month, and we’re gonna share one of them with everyone today: MiniMi starting on Semi-Solid Food!

Firstly, Baby MiniMi would like to thank Auntie GP and Uncle Ivan for lending their high chair :)! Here’s MiniMi sitting happily in his new throne :)

Wait a minute…. Why is my food not coming?!?!? Angry :P!!!!

After waiting for one whole night, the food is finally here…. Mama faster faster feed me yeah yeah :)!!!

Mmmm… this taste very different from milk :P!

I wonder if I like it????

Hmmm… I think it taste different from the yummy KFC mama and papa likes to eat :P??

But I still like! More more more!!!!

Ok, I feel super duper full, time for my nap :P….

But before I sleep, here’s a more hamsen photo of myself for the nice visitors to this blog :)!

Haha, let’s hope papa don’t get lazy, and blog more often :)! See you folks next time :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper with our MiniMi :)!!!!

MiniMi is down with bronchitis!

2011-10-08T21:46:00.001+08:00

MiniMi has fallen ill since last week =(

He had first developed a mild fever followed by many days of cough and runny nose. When he breathed, we could hear the wheezing sound and there was a lot of mucus and phlegm stuck inside. Poor MiniMi! He seemed to have difficulty breathing sometimes and he could not sleep well since he was unable to blow his nose or spit out the phlegm.

Last sat, we took him to see his paediatrician who was away on leave when MiniMi was ill. After listening to his chest, she said, "Baby needs to be admitted. He seems breathless!"

Oh dear, we were really shocked as we did not know that it was so serious! =( Immediately, we went back home to pack and off we went to Mt Alvernia for admission. We were initially given a 2-bedded room as there was no single room. Luckily, there was one available shortly after MiniMi was admitted.. Single room was definitely better as no one would disturb us and most importantly, both Barney and I could stay overnight to look after the baby.

Treatment for MiniMi involved sucking out of his phlegm and mucus via a tube inserted through his nose and mouth. It was painful to watch MiniMi cry so loudly and struggle as the tube went in. He cried so badly that I almost wanted to cry with him.

The worst would be the injection of a fine tube in his veins to allow daily dose of antibiotics to be injected into his body. We were asked to stand outside the treatment room and from outside, we could hear his pitiful cries and screams! poor MiniMi =(

He also had to be on the nebulizer every hourly, then processed to 3 hourly and finally 4 hourly.. In total, we stayed there for 4 nights!! It was tiring for both Barney and I since we could not get a good sleep and we had to help in administering the nebulizer. MiniMi would try to break free whenever the mask from the nebulizer was held near his face. Papa Barney had to dance and I had to sing to distract him so that he could sit still for a while to inhale the medicine. At night, we had to wake up to pat him and covered his ears while the nebulizer machine was on as it was quite noisy...

He is now resting at home but he still has to use the nebulizer for quite some time. Luckily, his wheezing has reduced and he can sleep better now. Hope MiniMi will recover soon and be healthy once more!!

With Love,
Flying Paper

Our 3rd Anniversary as Hubby & Wifey :)!!!!

2011-09-17T23:00:00.004+08:00

It’s amazing…. About 4 years ago, wifey and I started this blog to record our journey to become Man and Wife…. In the incredible 1455 days since, we have been blessed with tones of love, beautiful memories, and of course our lovely Minimi :)! Today, let me chronicle how we celebrated our 3rd year together as Hubby & Wifey :)!!!!

We actually had our first round of celebration a few days before the actual celebration! I’ve been promising Wifey that I’ll bring her somewhere special for lunch, and we took a day off from work for that! While on our way, I told her we were going to Paradise Dynasty, which we have been for quite a few times already, haha…. When we reached Ion, she finally realized that I was telling a white lie when we took a really long elevator ride:

The surprise lunch venue was actually Salt Grill and Sky Bar, at the very pinnacle of Ion! We wasted no time in taking pictures of course, haha….

We were impressed by the ambience, and the view was indeed breath-taking. Then we had the food:

Maybe we were expecting too much: the place was afterall the creation of one of the best chefs in the world, but we wasn’t really wowed by the food. In fact, after shopping around in the Orchard, we really did ended up in Paradise Dynasty to satisfy Bao Bei’s craving for xiao long baos, haha :D….

A happy wifey is a happy hubby :)!!!!

Over the same weekend, we went for our anniversary celebration proper: A weekend stay at Pan Pacific :D! The service staff were incredibly wonderful from the moment we checked in, and it was definitely one of the best hotel experience we had locally.

We wasted no time in taking silly pictures in our room, haha…. Here’s one of wifey pretending to be doing business:

My turn to act all business :D!

We actually took a lot more silly pictures, but I can’t post them here, if not wifey will snap my neck later, haha :D…. In return, let me show you tones of pictures we took at the wonderful Keyaki :D!!

Honestly, it was one of the best Japanese restaurants we’ve been to in Singapore. Before the food came, we acted all silly again, haha…. Here’s wifey with her Ninja impersonation!

Me doing my Sumo!

Haha, ok, now to the food! The appetizer alone raised our expectations:

It was followed quickly by another round of appetizers: Japanese dango, noodles, and what we think is tuna floss:

No Japanese meal is complete without Sashimi!

Nor is any Japanese meal complete without Sushi!

Silky smooth chawamushi!!!!

Tempura, fried to perfection:

Teriyaki cod fish. I’m no fish lover, but this was my fav dish!

Teppanyaki pork and beef. Both was fantastic!

By the time the excellent fired rice came, I was super duper full already :P….

But there’s always room for dessert!

In conclusion: Keyaki at Pan Pacific is definitely a must-try in Singapore if you dig Japanese cuisine. 2 thumbs up!

Not forgetting about our dearest Minimi, we went to a weaning talk by Friso! It was most informative, and to sweeten the deal, we were even given complimentary tins of milk powder and baby food! Haha :P…. As the talk was held rather late, we went on to Clarke Quay to appease our hungry stomachs, and enjoy the Mid-Autumn festivities!

Our oriental zodiac signs in lanterns :)!

There was a Taiwanese food bazaar, and we were so hungry we stuffed ourselves silly :D!

But the walking made us hungry, and we did something that we’ve always wanted to try: Having a KFC supper on bed in front of the TV :D!!!!

Muahahahaha :D…. And that was our very enjoyable anniversary celebration :)! Must make more of such trips possible, heh :)….

Wifey, I wanna let you know that it’s been an incredible 3 years spent together with you :)…. I just want you to know that…. I’M YOURS FOREVER :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus and Flying Paper, with our Minimi :)!!!!

5 months already!

2011-08-30T21:28:00.001+08:00

Hi all jies jies and kors kors,

Times flies and I'm already in my 5th month! Till date, I have managed to learn quite a few new skills =)

I can sit up with some assistance and I like my exclusive seat!

I can flip from my back to my tummy at 4+ months =) but I dunno how to flip back, haha

I have better grasp on my toys and I like to pull people's hair... :P
I start to have stranger anxiety but if you play with me for a while and look friendly, I will smile at you slightly.. hee hee
I have a new jumperoo and I love it!! =)

I think I'm trying to learn to crawl cos sometimes I lift my butt high and try to stretch out my arms to crawl.... hee hee...

That's all for now, nite nite everybody =)

Yawnz,
MiniMi

Jia You, My Wifey Dearest :)!!!!

2011-07-24T21:32:00.001+08:00

This post is specially dedicated to my One & Only One Wifey Dearest :)!!!!

Bao bei, it’s been tough on you! After braving through the long months of pregnancy and the long hours of labor, you learnt how to be the most wonderful mum over the four months of maternity leave :D!

I Love Mum :)!!!!

To say I’m impressed would be a severe understatement. You learnt how to feed, bathe, and clean our MiniMi to such an expert level, I had no worries about how well he would be taken care of even though it was just the two of you back home. I still remember the first week after our confinement nanny left, when you managed to bathe MiniMi all by yourself for the first time while I was taking a ~~short~~ afternoon nap! I think you’re a genius because that’s the one task that I’ve not done for MiniMi yet, haha…. You have also became an expert in breast-feeding, milk brewing, and even the messy but fun-filled diaper changing :)….

Happy 4-Month Old, Baby MiniMi :)!!!!

Of course, it’s not all work and no play :)! Hope you enjoyed the weekends of dim sum, hi-tea, and shopping :)! Even though we have a kid now, dating is still gonna be a huge part of our marriage :)!!!!

Bao bei, thanks for the long nights you spent tending to MiniMi, the ‘friendship’ you built with your Avent breast pump, and your gentle lullabies that always managed to soothe our MiniMi to sleep :)…. I know it’s not gonna be easy going back to work after the long leave, and I know you’re gonna miss MiniMi like crazy, but jia you, my dearest bao bei you can do it :)!!!!

MiniMi and me love our wonderfully sweet and beautiful Mummy :)!!!!

With Love,
Flying Barney, with our Minimi :)!!!!

4 months old sooonnn!

2011-07-21T13:20:00.006+08:00

Hi all kors kors and jies jies,

Time flies and I will be 4 months old this coming Saturday!! =) This also means that Mama has to go back to work soon... :( She tells me that she will miss me a lot and hope that she will not miss out too many of my upcoming milestones. Mama says she read from somewhere that babies laugh and smile the most in their 4th month out of their first 18 months in life. Oh, she is going to miss my laughter but don't worry, Mama, I'll laugh and smile to you lots when you come home and during the weekends!

By the way, recently, I have learnt to turn sideways all by myself. Granny says I will be able to flip over real soon which means they are going to pay more attention to me now and cannot leave me alone in bed for too long...hee hee... I also drool quite a lot and my favourite pastime is to suck my fingers!! Yes yes, it is not very good to suck fingers but it seems to soothe me and I enjoy doing it. When Mama and Papa try to take out my fingers, I will scream! :P

My voice has become louder and I know how to scream for attention. Whenever no one plays or talks to me, I will scream for attention. When someone is near, I will flash my killer toothless grin and give a sweet smile. I'm a cheeky baby! haha....

Here's a photo of me sucking my fingers! Papa says this is my trademark 'rocker-fingers'!

Me looking innocent! :P

Signing off now,

Drools and wet kisses from MiniMi =)

MiniMi’s First Haircut :D!!!!

2011-06-25T11:30:00.001+08:00

Hello everybody :D!!!! Today, Daddy Barney will tell you all about Baby MiniMi’s first haircut :D!!!!

If you believe in Chinese beliefs, a baby should be given a haircut upon turning 1 month-old according to the Lunar calendar. There are variations to this, such as the third or fourth month haircut, but we decided to stick to the one-month mark as it was the same day as Minimi’s Baby Shower :D!

Wifey and I were all excited because we have no idea how MiniMi will look like as a botak! Here are some pics of MiniMi before the cut:

His hair was really getting long!

And finally, the hairdresser came for the cut :D!! He was struggling quite a bit, and our confinement lady had to pin him down, muahahah :D!!

Shaving in progress…. He’s probably thinking “What are you doing to my hair :P?!?!?”

Just a little while more!

And we are almost done :D!

A new look for Baby MiniMi :D!!

A closer look at his clean shaven head…. Not only was his hair shaved, his eyebrows were shaved too :D!!!!

I think the botak look suits MiniMi rather well :)!!!!

Haha, more updates on our bundle of joy next time :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper with our Baby MiniMi :)!!!!

Baby Minimi's Baby Shower :)!!!!

2011-06-19T10:52:00.003+08:00

Hello everybody :D!!!! Yes, Barney is finally back with an entry after two months, haha…. And my goodness, so many things happened over the last two months indeed! To make up for my absence, I’m gonna do back-to-back entries, starting with MiniMi’s Baby Shower :)!!

We actually started looking for a place to host Baby MiniMi’s baby shower a couple of months before he was born, and after searching high and low, we decided on this really quaint restaurant called Padi’s Point:

We’re really glad we chose this place! The staff, especially Manager Hendrik, was especially friendly and helpful from Day 1, and was very accommodating to our requests and queries. It was a nice, cosy place with great food, and I would heavily recommend Padi’s Point as a party venue to everyone :)!

Some pics of Minimi’s celebration :)! The staff at Padi’s was nice enough to do up their signboard, and though they got the date wrong initially (the Baby Shower was on Earth Day), they changed it promptly after realizing the mistake :)!

Here’s Mummy Flying Paper with our Baby MiniMi :)!!

Our friends helping themselves to the buffet. It was a wonderful spread with sushi, roasted beef, almond-crusted pork loins, cheesecakes and lots more of other goodies!! Really value for money :)!!

A picture with Ah Choo auntie, our confinement lady :)! She was an invaluable help during her stay with us, and we learnt lots from her. Thanks for taking care our my darling wifey and baby, auntie :)!!

We were also so glad KP and Ivan could make it :)!!!! It felt like yesterday when we attended Princess S’s baby shower, and now they were attending MiniMi’s :)! We noticed MiniMi eyeing their princess with interest…. Hmmm, potential in-laws :D!!!!

We were so touched that wifey’s colleagues and friends turned out in full force to show their support to Baby Minimi :)! They were happily fussing over him :)!

Wifey’s siblings bought this really nice Mickey Mouse pendant for MiniMi :)! Really touched because they have only started working recently :)…. Anyway I think the three of them look really alike :D!

And the great lady who raised the three wonderful siblings :D!! I’m so glad to have a wonderful and supportive Mum-In-Law :)!!!! My Dad-In-Law is wonderful too, but he’s more camera shy, haha :D….

Thanks to all who managed to celebrate with us that wonderful afternoon :)! I’ll follow up with lots more other entries, please stay tuned :)!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper with our MiniMi :)!!!!

I'm almost 10 weeks old =)

2011-05-30T14:04:00.005+08:00

Hi all the kors kors and jies jies,

I'm MiniMi! Currently, I'm almost 10 weeks old and has grown so much chubbier compared to last time. I think Mama and Papa feed me with too much milk but I like! hee hee.....

For the past 2 months, I've been learning quite a few new stuff and observe new things too. =)

The number one skill I learnt is to SMILE =) This skill has delighted my parents, grandparents and the rest! They love to see me SMILE (flashing my toothless grin now)
I learnt how to lift my head slightly when Mama and Papa put me on tummy time.
I can follow the toys that are attached on the mobile when they turn round and round.
I also can make some sounds like "Ohhh" and "Arggg". Granny, Mama and Papa love it when I make these sounds and they like to imitate me too.. Haha but I think my sounds are cuter =)
I find that my Papa is a funny man. He likes to make funny faces and do weird dance in front of me. Although he looks strange, I love him lots and I always smile widely when I see him. =)
I like to take bath! I always enjoy my bath but I don't really like the wiping session in the evening. :P
I observe that whenever I change diaper, Mama is always scared that I will anyhow release my pee when I'm uncovered. I have tried to control everytime but sometimes, I just have to let it out and my Mama will go "Not again" as she hurriedly trying to cover my pee from spraying all over.. Haha.. but everything will be alright again when I flash my cute toothless grin =)
I'm still being swaddled at night as my hands and legs will uncontrollably move around. This scares me though... so I need to be swaddle to feel safe. However, sometimes I will try to break free and I will wake up my parents :P
I notice that my Mama and Papa are becoming like pandas with the dark eye rings. I think it is because of my night feeding session and my waking up during the wee hours. I need Mama to pet me to sleep or I need to be carried for a while before I'm willing to return to my dreamland for a short while.. My parents keep praying I can sleep soundly throughout the night.

Well, that's all for now as it's time for my nap again. I get cranky and fussy if I don't get my nap. Before signing off, here's 2 pics of myself for your enjoyment, hee hee =)

My Confinement Experiment

2011-05-06T20:35:00.004+08:00

Long time no blog!!! Time flies and MiniMi is already 6 weeks old! I also have finally finished my confinement. I think most women dread confinement period as there are a lot of do's and don'ts which can be quite inconvenient.

No Fan

I was told not to blow fan but air-con was acceptable. As my living room had no air-con, I always escaped to my bedroom most of the time as I sweat easily.

No bathing and washing hair whenever possible

The most inconvenient thing in confinement is no bathing and washing hair for as long as possible. This is definitely very unbearable for me since I sweat easily and I had to eat a lot of ginger stuff. Whenever I needed to bath, my confinement nanny would boil a big pail of hot water mixed with herbal. The water was so hot and after bathing, I still felt warm -_-''.

Lots of ginger and longan red date tea

I had never eaten so much ginger in my life before my confinement. Ginger is believed to get rid of wind in the body so my meals consisted of ginger most of the time. In addition, I cannot drink water and must drink hot longan red date tea. Imagine drinking that all the time and in this hot weather somemore! I miss all the cold drinks!

Rest, rest and rest

This is one part which I like! I was asked to lie in bed most of the time as they said my body needed resting and lying down would help to protect my back too. I don't mind as I like sleeping.. haha....

Although I find confinement not fun at all, I think that it is necessary since our body undergoes great "trauma" after delivery and needs time to heal. =)

Here's a pic of my little boss sleeping soundly =)

The Full Story of MiniMi’s Arrival :D!!!!

2011-04-07T10:53:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!! After getting a little bit more sleep, Daddy Barneysaurus is finally ready to bring you the exclusive coverage of the arrival of Baby MiniMi :)!!

The adventure actually started in the morning of 23rd…. Wifey started getting contractions since 1am, but because of the previous false alarms, decided to endure until the pain becomes unbearable :P…. Think she also wanted to let me have more sleep because I have been sending too much time on Dynasty Warriors (bad hubby :P!)…. The pain became so intense that she needed to sit up, and think of the Mr Bean commercial jingle to let herself feel better…. At 630am, we decided to prepare ourselves for the trip to the hospital, and reached TMC at 8am after a full breakfast prepared by granny :)!

We were already very familiar with the observation wards since this was our third trip there, and the nurses attended to Wifey Dearest while I was settling the admission procedures.

It turns out that bao bei was already 4cm dilated :D! We decided on having an epidural, which turned out to be a really good decision as described later :)…. Wifey felt better immediately after the injection, and Dr Paul informed us that Minimi should be arriving around 5-6pm :)!!!!

It was still quite a long way to go, so we went on a mix of TV and nap time in the Delivery Room 8 :)

The reason why I said it was a great decision to go for the epidural was because bao bei’s contractions grew really intense as the hours dragged by. From the monitoring device, we could tell she was having incredibly intense contractions every minute or so!

The worse thing was that MiniMi decided to take his sweet time with the dilation, and the original predicted delivery time of 5-6pm eventually dragged to 7pm, 8pm, and so forth…. My heart really ached for Wifey Dearest because despite the epidural, she could still feel the pressure, and I know it’s no joke lying on a hospital bed for an extended period…. She almost broke down at 8pm, and I felt so helpless for the love of my life :(…. Fortunately, she fell asleep soon after the staff increase the epidural dosage.

Finally at 11.30pm, Dr Paul did a check on Wifey again, and confirmed that she has reached the milestone dilation of 10cm! We were now ready for the Big Push :D!! Bao bei was visibly relieved that baby was finally ready, and was initially hoping that things could be settled with one single push, haha :D…. Seriously though, the pushing was not easy! We could barely see any results at the first few attempts, though I think it was my fault: I thought I could help Wifey by making the ‘pushing’ sound with her, but that almost made her laugh out loud instead :D! I decided to zip my lips after getting told off by the midwife, and also because I actually suffered a stomach cramp as a result of my ‘exertions’, haha :D….

Bao bei tried really very hard, and we were told that there would be no requirement for assistance in the form of vacuuming or forceps. Kudos to her because I could tell it was really a laborious task, which is a severe understatement. The critical stage came when MiniMi’s head was about a quarter through, and Wifey had to sustain the pushing for a prolonged period so as not to let the head retract. With lots of encouragement from Dr Paul, Midwife Imee and me, she did it :D!!!! The head was more than half-way through, and Dr Paul did an excellent job of bringing our baby out subsequently :)…. The joy of seeing our MiniMi for the very first time is… indescribable :)…. He let out a strong cry immediately, and also let his first stream of pee jetting out! I was lucky enough not to get wet, but the midwife wasn’t as lucky :P…. What a cheeky boy :D!

Then came the part for Daddy: the cutting of the umbilical cord :D! I was actually really looking forward to this part, haha…. I thought it was gonna be straight-forward, but it felt a bit like cutting through tough slippery rubber :D! I’m glad it was settled in a single cut :)…. After I’m done, MiniMi was brought to Mummy Dearest for cuddling :)….

After some cleaning up, we took MiniMi for his vital measurements, and I’m happy to report that MiniMi weighs a healthy 3.355kg :)! Think the KFC sessions helped, muahahaha :D…. We also took his length and head circumference, and checked that his fingers and toes are properly formed :)…. It seems like such mundane details, but incredibly significant for every parent :)

We brought baby back to mummy, and my poor girl was starting to feel the after-effects of the epidural shot. Due to the length of labor, Wifey had approximately 100ml’s worth of epidural in her body, and she felt incredibly nauseous and giddy as a result. My heart really ached as she vomited numerous times…. Guess this was the price we had to pay for having painless contractions…. By the time she settled into sleep, it was already 3am in the morning. We were both hungry, tired and exhausted, but both feeling immensely proud of our new status in life as we looked at the sweet face of MiniMi :)….

A big word of thanks to the wonderful staff at TMC, especially Dr Paul Tseng and Midwife Imee for getting us through the delivery :)! And also the wonderful nurse who helped changed Wifey in the wee hours of the morning when she was exhausted due to the epidural after-effects. You guys are wonderful :D!!!!

Last but definitely not least, thank you my Dearest Wifey, for braving through the long labor, the long nine-months of pregnancy, and everything you did to bring our child into this world. It has been an incredible journey: our first meeting in uni, the first time I held your hand in mine, the night we exchanged matrimonial vows and walked down the aisle, and now the birth of our beloved child :)…. I couldn’t imagine all this happening back in 10 August 2005, but you made everything possible with your lovely smile and simple ways…. It’s gonna sound really mushy, but you are my dream that came true :)

I love you Wifey :)! I resolve to be the best hubby and the best daddy for the family :)!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper with our MiniMi :)!!

The Arrival of Minimi :D!!!!

2011-03-29T22:54:00.001+08:00

Friends, we are proud to announce that our MiniMi has been safely delivered after a full day’s worth of labor by my amazing Wifey :D!!!!

Both Mummy and Baby are doing fine :)!! Daddy shall blog more about this unforgettable event after he gets more sleep, haha :)….

With Love,
Flying Paper & Barneysaurus with our MiniMi :)!!

Dating with Wifey :)!!

2011-03-06T09:54:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!! It’s amazing, but in just a couple of weeks’ time, we will be welcoming our dearest Minimi to this world already :D!!!! Feeling anxious because our lives are gonna change, but feeling terribly excited at the prospect of nursing this bundle of joy in our arms :)….

We know we’ll get super busy once Minimi arrives, so we decided to go on as many dates as possible :)! Hmmm… come to think of it, maybe that’s just an excuse to indulge in lots of good food, haha :D…. One of the first places we had to go was our favourite restaurant: Angus House :)!!

Another dating spot: playing the fool at Vivocity :)!!!!

I don’t know what this fellow was trying to do in the following pic :P….

Bao bei enjoying her coconut drink :)! It’s supposed to give baby a nice nice complexion :)!

We also spent the weekend exploring the newly opened Sentosa Broadwalk! Thankfully, it wasn’t very crowded :)

While the broadwalk was covered, it was still very hot, and we think it was so smart of them to have an ice cream stall at the end of the walk ;)….

We’ve also explored our favourite makan places over the last few weekends :)! Tonkichi!

Again, I have no idea what this fellow was trying to do ;)….

We love the Teh Tarik at OldTown White Coffee! Eh, I accidentally spilt some on her hand while positioning for this shot, and of course got my ear pulled immediately after, haha :D….

My favourite beef rice at Sim Lim Square foodcourt! The stall has been around since my teens, unbelievable :D!

Bao bei with her mee hoon kway :)!

Wifey Dearest usually doesn’t have much cravings (except for juices and drinks, haha….), so when she wanted prata I knew I had to rush us down to fulfill her desires :D!

I have no idea how she does it, but Wifey Dearest always manage to make every single one of dates as sweet as the first :)…. Think maybe it’s because we always have very sweet drinks on our dates, muahaha :D…. Ok ok, time for me to stop blogging, and go give her her deserved back rub again :)! See you guys next time :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper with our Baby Minimi :)!!!!

Our Very First Lunar New Year Celebration with MiniMi :)!!!!

2011-02-12T23:09:00.003+08:00

A very happy Lunar New Year to everyone :D!!!! We hope everyone had a wonderful LNY celebration, and everything will be smooth sailing for the lunar new year :)! And yes, it’s confirmed that Baby Minimi will be a Rabbit instead of a Tiger, yeah :)!

Let me recount our first ever LNY with Baby Minimi in Mama Flying Paper’s tummy bah :)!

No LNY is complete without a Reunion meal, and we had two of them on LNY’s eve :D! Lunch at Zhou’s Kitchen + dinner at Mum’s place = Papa Barney with a bulging tummy, as evidenced by the following pic:

I need to restart my exercise regime asap :P! Haha…. While I’m saddened by my bulging tummy, everybody loves my dearest wifey’s :)!!!!

Besides LNY visits, Flying Paper and I did something different for the new year this year…. We went on a date at….

…. Changi Airport :D!!!! Haha, wifey is in no state to fly, but nonetheless, we still had a great time at the airport :)! We ate at Popeyes and Paradise Inn, explored the three terminals and took lots of pictures :)! Minimimuloo was so excited at his first trip to the airport that he kept dancing in mummy’s tummy, haha :D….

As usual, we ate too much, and decided to burn off some calories at the River Ang Pow :)! It was actually quite dark when we got there, but thankfully it didn’t rain :)!

To prove that we’re eating too much, we even had yu sheng again during 人日 :)! I hope Minimi enjoyed all the extra makan that he’s getting, haha :D….

We’ll be welcoming our baby boy in just a few weeks’ time, and to be frank, we’re getting rather gan cheong already :D! We shall try to be as cool, calm and collected as possible during Delivery Day, haha :D…. See you folks next time :)!!!!

With Love,
Flying Paper and Barneysaurus, with our Baby Minimi :)!!

32 weeks!!

2011-01-29T22:11:00.008+08:00

Today is my 32 weeks pregnancy check-up and I am so excited to see MiniMi after a month's wait. Recently, my tummy has been feeling very heavy and I can feel some pain in my lower abdomen sometimes.... Previously at 28 weeks, doc said that MiniMi was still in breech position but today he has turned head-down... hee....

When doc was doing the scan this morning, MiniMi was facing inside so we could not see his face...but later he turned around and showed us his cute sleeping face... At one point, I thought he was smiling .... haha...

Now, he's a 2.2 kg baby, gained 1 kg over a month... yeah, I felt happy seeing his chubby face...can't wait to squeeze his cheeks.. Here's the ultrasound pic to show:

Wonder if you can make out his sleeping face on the right... hee

Just 8 more weeks to full term.... So nervous and excited! Right now as I am typing, my tummy is dancing away already... =)

Here wishing all of you Happy Chinese New Year in advance!! Gong Xi Gong Xi! =)

Last lap!!

2011-01-03T22:04:00.002+08:00

I'm entering my third trimester now! Time flies!! MiniMi was a small bubble then, and now he has grown into a 1+ kg of joy in my tummy!

About three more months left before I carry my MiniMi around!! Amazing feeling but yet nervous too as handling baby is really no easy feat! Currently, baby MiniMi is moving quite vigorously in my tummy. Sometimes, his movements can be quite "violent". Once, I felt something poking out, maybe it's his elbow or leg.. haha...

Now, I have been waking up more frequently at night to visit the toilet... It's preparing me for the sleepless nights ahead after baby is born I guess.... Having backaches more often which sometimes can be so miserable =( And I'm scared of the labour process... ARGH....

Counting down to the days I meet MiniMi and meanwhile, I will enjoy my pregnancy and endure! Hee... Happy New Year to all!!! =)

Our First Christmas Celebration with MiniMi :)!!

2010-12-26T22:39:00.003+08:00

A very Merry Christmas to everyone from the MiniMi family :D!!!!

Haha, obviously this Christmas greeting is late by a day, but hopefully you guys can forgive us :)! To make amends, let us tell you about our Christmas adventure :)!

Wifey Dearest was in no condition for overseas travel for the time being, so to make up for it, we went for a staycation at Mandarin Orchard :)!

We were lucky enough to get an upgrade to a junior suite!

The perk was that it came with a massage chair, which was a god-sent for Wifey Dearest because she was having a backache :P!

We were so excited about the fluffy pillows and bed, we jumped into bed immediately and stayed there for the next two hours, heh heh heh…. Eh, please don’t get the wrong idea, we were not trying to make a ‘MiniMi No.2’ that afternoon, it was simply because Wifey Dearest needs her nap as an expectant mother :)!

Our original dinner plan was to have ramen (yes, weird for a Christmas dinner I know but you must obey the wishes of a pregnant woman :)!), but I pleaded with Wifey Dearest to let me have a quick bite at a steakhouse first because I have to satisfy my craving for steaks! We ended up at Astons’ for a quick bite, and as you can see from the following picture I was really happy :)

I love juicy steaks :)!!!!

Wifey Dearest doesn’t take beef nor like western food that much, but she does like bread and soup, heh:

Recharged, we proceeded to SHOP :)!! Actually, the shopping was really more for MiniMi…. We really have been buying too many clothes for him already and we know we should stop, but it’s really hard for us to do so because everything just looks so cute :)!

After spending too much time at GAP, Mothers En Vogue and Mothercare, it started pouring really hard and we decided to shelve the plans for ramen because we didn’t want to walk in the rain…. The problem is long queues were already forming at most restaurants, and after some deliberation, we ended up having our Christmas dinner at Subway :D! I’m so glad to have a wonderful Wifey who doesn’t mind eating anywhere as long as she’s with me, haha :)….

When we went back to hotel, we transformed into couch potatoes immediately:

We bought the Double Decker chicken-flavoured snacks, which was a really cute mini version :)!

I felt really bad for just treating Wifey Dearest to Subway, so we went to Taste Paradise the next day for her favorite Dim Sum :)!

Another reason why we went there was because she was having a huge craving for ‘lor mai gai’:

While waiting for the food, we decided to brush up our photography skills in preparation for our coming Baby Photo Contest ;)….

After lunch we went for Wifey Dearest's pre-natal massage, and also went shopping again :D!! This time round, it was my turn to get a present :)!

This was not only the first time I ‘cam-whored’ in the changing room, but also the first time I was not alone there :D! Muahahaha….

I would like to thank my Dearest Wifey for the wonderful Christmas and presents :)!! Of course, we have already been given the best possible gift already…. We love you, MiniMi :)!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper with our MiniMi :)!!

Tips from Minimi's Papa :D!!

2010-12-06T21:21:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

Yes, today is Minimi’s Papa’s turn to blog :)!!!! Haha, today, let me share with everyone 5 tips I’ve learnt in the past 6 months since Wifey Dearest got pregnant :)!

Lesson #01: Get a Great Gynae!

We cannot over-emphasize on the importance of having a good gynaecologist! He must be someone who knows his stuff well, patient enough to answer newbie parents’ newbie queries, and be able to put our minds at ease. We’re glad to have found Dr Paul Tseng of TLC Gynaecology Practise in TMC who was all these and more! We didn’t have any reservations about getting a male gynae because it’s really the experience and skills that really matters :)…. Kudos to Wifey Dearest who found our gynae after her tireless research at the forums :)!

Lesson #02: Do your research before committing to any purchase!

As first-time parents, we went crazy shopping for baby products the moment we knew about our Minimi :)! However, it is wise to be prudent, and do your research first before shopping. For example, we sought recent mums’ expertise (thanks KP and Caren :)!) about what are the products we really need, as well as the pros and cons of various brands. With the internet, it’s also easy to seek opinions from baby forums, and do price comparison for products around the globe :)! And seriously, there are quite a few baby products which are cheaper from overseas compared to getting them locally, even when the shipping fees have been factored. So do shop wisely :)!

Lesson #03: Eat Wisely :)!

Wifey Dearest used to be the greatest potato chips and ice cream fan, but weird enough she found them disgusting during the early stages of her pregnancy :D! Being the dutiful hubby I am, I ‘sacrificed’ and finished those snacks for her, haha :D…. Seriously though, it’s important to have a healthy diet for the child to develop healthily, and also because the child basically sucks up goodies such as iron and calcium from Mummy Dearest :P! So we’ve been indulging in goodies such as lots of fruits, vegetables and fish :)!! There’re also tonnes of food to be avoided, and so far we’ve banned sushi (because of the risk of bacteria), spicy food (because it causes tummy-aches), and even cream cakes (it made her nauseous!). But not to worry, there are still lots of goodies we can indulge in, such as ‘xiao long bao’ which we think Minimi really likes because he will move around whenever we eat that :D!

Lesson #04: Sway Your Hips & Exercise :)!

Now this is really tough because Wifey Dearest has never been the sporty type ;)! Now that she’s carrying an additional 10kg bundle of joy, it’s even harder as she gets tired really easily :P…. However, we learned from the prenatal classes that exercise is actually really very important so as to prepare the body for child birth, especially the hips and pelvic region. So now we are trying to establish a schedule for Wifey to follow, haha…. I even join her in those weird hip turning exercises, quite tiring indeed :D!

Lesson #05: Always give in to your Wifey :)!

We know having a baby is a most wonderful thing, but what I didn’t know was how challenging it was going to be for the expectant mother :P…. Wifey Dearest probably puked more in her first trimester than what she did in her whole life :(! She also had headaches, backaches, and loss of appetite…. Being a mother is really not an easy job, and I feel really helpless because there was little I can do to relieve her discomfort :P! So the next best thing I can do is to be patient, attentive, and above all, give in to my Dearest Wifey because she is doing such an amazing job :)! I’m also incredibly lucky because the only food craving thus far is bread, instead of Penang Laksa :)

Haha, Minimi’s Papa will do his best to make Minimi’s Mum’s baby journey a comfortable one, YEAH :D!!!!

With Love,
RBarneysaurus & Flying Paper with our MiniMi :)!!!!

I am a ............

2010-11-14T11:13:00.003+08:00

Hello, everyone!! Today is a special post from me =) I'm Minimi and is currently living in my mummy's warm and round tummy..... My favourite pastime for now is to sleep, eat and of course, I advocate healthy living so I exercise too! I kick and punch on a regularly basis but I heard my mum "complains" that I mix up the day and night and would move about more actively at night... Ooops, but I can't differentiate day and night in mummy's tummy right? :P

Last week, my daddy and mummy went to see Uncle Paul for my detailed scan. This time round, they are to scan for my growth development, making sure that my bones, spine, kidneys etc are growing well. During the scan, I lay quietly as daddy told me the night before to behave and let the sonographer have an easier time... hee

After lying there for quite some time, I heard the sonographer said "Your baby is sleeping so soundly"! But I wasn't sleeping so immediately, I showed them my moves!! Hee, my movements always invite smiles and "wows" from my "audience".. So I could hear my parents and the sonographer expressing their amazements when they saw me on the screen. At one time, I even sticked up my thumb and showed a "good" sign! Haha.....

Let me show you my pictures:

This is my side view, my mummy hopes that I will be a chubby baby =)

This is my leg =)

My hand!

My face with my two hands in the air

On that day, the sonographer also confirmed my gender...I'm a BOY! Hee, I think that explains why my mummy has acne and her tummy is big... oops... =)

Signing off before I see you on my next scan =)

Love,

MiniMi

Stroller Hunting for MiniMi :)!!!!

2010-10-31T11:39:00.005+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!! I’m very excited because this is my very first post since the revelation of MiniMi :)!! Haha, please be assured that I’ve not been sitting idly ;)…. In fact I’ve been keeping a journal of our feelings for MiniMi since Day 1 :)!

24 July 2010, Saturday:
I was surfing the net this morning when Wifey Dearest called me over to the bedroom, where she showed me the pregnancy kit which displayed two lines, one darker and one lighter :)…. At first I was really confused and asked her what does it mean, and then she showed me the pregnancy kit box, which explained that a double line means…. POSITIVE :D!!!! My lovely Wifey is pregnant with our kid :D!!!! Bao Bei had missed her period and was feeling nauseous recently (actually me too, haha), that’s why we bought the pregnancy kit a week before :)….

Was super duper excited, and also a little bit scared because we were worried it might turn out to be a false alarm :P…. Was jumpy for the rest of the day because I felt so gan cheong, but was super duper happy :)! Kept my fingers crossed, haha :P…. We even went to Watson’s to buy another pregnancy kit, the type where you get to keep the kit results, for testing the next day :)!

Hahahaha…. There are tonnes of other stuff that I wrote, so secretive that not even Wifey Dearest has read yet ;)! Will show her when MiniMi ‘arrives’;)!

Anyway, today I’m gonna share our experiences in stroller hunting :)!! Being the typical kiasu Singaporeans we are, we started scouting around for a stroller soon after we knew about our little bundle of joy! I was ‘assigned’ to be the official stroller researcher because it was more technical in nature, haha…. After spending countless hours on parenting forums and review sites, we identified a few characteristics that the stroller must have:

1) It must be high-sitting. We were probably brain-washed by this Stokke video we saw a couple of years ago, which claims that a high-sitting stroller promotes greater bonding between parent and child. Because of its height, it is more visible to other pedestrians and drivers, and also allows it to avoid contact with low-lying dangers such as wildlife (actually, more probably curious pet dogs) and fumes from car-exhaust. It can also be used as a high chair in restaurants! More crucially, the height of the stroller reduces the need for Wifey Dearest to bend down low to sayang our MiniMi, otherwise I can’t imagine the amount of back-pain she has to go through :P!

2) It must allow both forward and rear-facing. Most conventional strollers only allow forward-facing, which is kinda sad because we would want to look at our new-born every single second when possible :D! Again, this allows bonding, and gives the new-born a greater sense of security because they can see their parents :)…. Of course, forward-facing is still required because they would eventually want to look at the outside world when they get older :)

3) It must be safe and sturdy :P! I’ve seen some really filmsy looking strollers and they kind of scare me :P…. Basically, the stroller must be built sturdily, and have easy-access brakes. Being in sunny Singapore, the shade must also be huge!

4) It should allow for usage from Day 1 ;)! Most conventional strollers are not recommended for new-borns because they are usually not fully-reclined, nor have the necessary support. A bassinet would actually be more appropriate for new-borns!

We initially shortlisted a few strollers which fulfilled the majority of the above, namely Stokke, Joolz, and UppaBaby. Unfortunately, all three are terribly expensive, with Stokke costing around $2700 if we purchase the complete set with the bassinet. Talking about the bassinet, it is usually a separate item from the stroller set, and must be swopped with the stroller seat when you want to use it. The other thing we didn’t like was that we have to lift the seat from the stroller frame and re-insert it to swop between forward and rear-facing modes, which is physically difficult and inconvenient.

And then by a stroke of luck, we chanced upon the First Years Wave Stroller!!

This stroller is really quite amazing! The main seat can be converted between bassinet and stroller mode, which eliminates the need for us to purchase and subsequently store two pieces separately. What’s even more amazing is that its mechanism allows the switch between forward and rear-facing mode with a simple spin! The learning curve was also simple, and I took just a few minutes to get use to its functions, set-up and storage.

And of course, the First Years Wave looks gorgeous :)! It's available in both black and red, and we went for the latter.

The only minus point is that the stroller is only for sale in the US and Canada, so we had to use other means to ship it back home. But even with all shipping cost factored, it was still cheaper than the MotherCare Spin, which was 99% similar to the First Years Wave but cost a whooping $1575! Anyway, enough talk, here’re the pictures :)!

An explanation of how the spin function works:

Forward-facing bassinet mode:

Rear-facing bassinet mode:

Converted to forward-facing stroller mode!

Rear-facing stroller mode:

Roomy interior with 5-point safety harness!

Basket storage at the bottom:

Single touch brake with color indicator! It was simple enough to activate even barefooted :)!

Peek-a-boo window :)!

We also went crazy and brought tonnes of other baby stuff, a portion which is shown here :P….

Will be sharing with you our other experiences soon, stay tuned :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper with our MiniMi :)!!!!

Changes during pregnancy ~~

2010-10-16T12:29:00.007+08:00

Now I'm about 4 months preggie and let me summarize some of the main changes I face....

"Morning" sickness

It's not just morning. It can be afternoon, evening.. Initially, mine was more like "evening" sickness.... I'll feel nauseous and no appetite. There will sometimes be a weird taste lingering on my tongue so whatever nice food, I'll find it hard to swallow... haha..... There are times where Mini Mi will reject the food and "kick"them out.... The only good thing out of this is that I didn't gain weight during my first trimester... Now my appetite is better and so my weight has been increasing lei :p But for the baby, it's ok!! Just hope i can return to my pre-pregnancy weight after Mini Mi arrives =)

Acne

Other mums become radiant and glowing during their pregnancy but for me, it's the opposite..I have more pimples than ever and my skin is really bad =( Haiz... Can't be a pretty preggie like others...My face also very bloated... I dun dare to anyhow try skincare products so I think I'll wait till after delivery, then I will see how.. If not, I'm thinking of seeing doc to cure the acne problem.. hee hee

Change of taste

I used to love ice cream and chocolate but strangely during my first trimester, I don't like them at all. Also, I find potato chips disgusting and find that they have a weird smell... haha... I like chilli but with Mini Mi, the baby seems to dislike spicy food... I think that's because Mini Mi's dad is a chili-no-no person as he is allergic to chilli.. Like father, like Mini Mi.. haha... So now I am forbidden to eat chilli as there was once I vomited and had diarrhea cos of chilli :P

Even though it seems like pregnancy is a tough job, I'm really happy that a life is growing in me and I can't wait to see how Mini Mi looks like.. Now I don't even know the gender... Awaiting Nov for my detailed scan, hope my baby will behave and let us know the gender.. haha.... Meanwhile, hope that Mini Mi is growing healthily and safely =)

Minimi says "Hi"!

2010-09-29T22:12:00.008+08:00

MiniMi (aka Mini Miracle) says "Hi"!!! =)

Previously due to the traditional 3-months taboo, Rhys and I needed to keep this news under wrap and now finally we can share this good news with my friends =)

MiniMi was first discovered in around late July when the pregnancy kit showed 2 red lines! When I showed Rhys the results, he went "Huh? What does that mean?" -_-'' After explaining to him, he was very happy but at the same time, I could sense his nervousness and excitement... First time dad and mum!!! Worst still, we were still behaving like big children, so it was like a kid giving birth to another kid.. haha....

As it was unbelievable, we went on to purchase another kit to confirm the results. It was positive. We even went to see a GP to test again and it was positive too! So it's 100% sure that MiniMi existed!!

We started researching quietly on our own as we didn't wish to "alarm" our family members yet. Only one of my best friends knew, hee hee. We decided to visit Dr Paul at TMC and finally we saw the first picture of MiniMi.

MiniMi was just a small bubble at 5 weeks =)

We showed this pic to my MIL and parents, and of course they were thrilled~! Hee, first grandchild! =)

I enjoyed my trips to the gynae as Rhys and I had the chance to see MiniMi each time. I was constantly worried whether MiniMi was growing well and was I doing enough... My weight didn't really increase as I had morning sickness and lately I had been vomiting out my food and no appetite. Hope MiniMi will gradually "behave"and accept the food I eat so that we can both be happy! haha....

Here's a pic of MiniMi at week 9

Can you see the word "head"and ""rump"? =)

Here's the pic taken when we went for the Oscar scan at about week 12:

MiniMi is lying on his back so we can see his/her side view.. hee....

Happy children day to you, MiniMi!! =)

Our 2nd Anniversary Celebration, Part 2 :D!!!!

2010-09-26T21:33:00.007+08:00

Hi all, today is Flying Paper's turn to blog about Part 2 of our anniversary celebration! We checked out early from St Regis as we were heading to Resorts World! We had booked a 3D2N stay at Hard Rock Hotel and there was a package which included breakfast and a pair of Universal Studios tickets.

As we wanted to visit Universal Studios on the first day, we rushed down early so that we could start playing early.... As the check-in time was 3pm and we reached there at around 11am, we deposited our luggage there and off we went to USS!

As both of us were scary cats, we didn't actually try out a lot of rides. We mainly went for those "friendlier"rides such as 4D show, rock musical, carousel et.. Below are some pics for our USS trip =)

Finally, we got tired and decided to check into our hotel... Our room was purple in color and had a "rock star"feeling...so we started posing (although unsuccessful) haha

For the next day, we had a full breakfast and started to stroll around Resorts World. Being lazy, we didn't go to other parts of Sentosa to explore and instead we went back to our room to have a nap because we needed to prepare ourselves for Barney's friend, Zhi Heng's wedding! His wedding was at the function room which was at Hard Rock so it was convenient for us =)

For the last day, we had our full breakfast again and we checked out after some rest! So that concluded our short anniversary celebration! Fun and memorable.... This year anniversary was a special one too as this time, we had MiniMi with us!! hee hee ;P

Our 2nd Anniversary Celebration, Part I :D!!!!

2010-09-19T17:45:00.004+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!! Haha, sorry for the long ‘no-show’, have been tied up with several big events since the start of the year ;)! One of the biggest was the house-shifting…. Yes, we’ve moved :D!!!! Haha, more on that next time ;)…. Today let me record the memories of our 2nd Anniversary :)!!

We began the day by pigging at Straits Kitchen. We wanted to try the place for quite some time, but couldn’t bear to spend that much on char kway teow and hokkien mee, haha…. But the combination of curiosity and gluttony eventually got the better of us ;)

As true-blue Singaporeans, we had to try the chicken rice ;)…. The good thing is you can have everything in sample size so you won’t get bloated.... Actually you still would, just not that fast ;)!

The satay were really good :)!

The prata looks nice, but to be honest it’s not really special :P

There were multiple stalls covering almost all types of local hawker delights, inclusive of a desserts station too! Couldn’t find the BBQ stingrays though, not too sure if we missed it, haha…. There’s also a drinks stations which offers free-flow of ‘selected’ juices, though we really wish they could just be more generous and offer the good stuff like sugar cane and coconut juices more readily, heh.

After that we moved on to another place where we’ve always wanted to try out…. St Regis! It was top-notch service even before you checked-in, and even though we only had a normal deluxe room, it was way opulent!

The bathtub which we didn’t use because we still prefer overhead showers, haha….

We started kidding around the moment the butler was out, haha…. Bo liao shots!

They even had a pillow menu, just in case you didn’t like the standard fluffy types:

Even the eh, ‘intimate kit’ was stylishingly packaged, haha….

The makan was not too bad too ;)….

You would think we couldn’t bear to leave the place, but we actually checked out early the next morning :D! Haha, had to rush off to our next destination ;)…. More on that by my Dearest Wifey next time :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper :)!

Dozo :D! A Birthday Celebration for my Dearest Wifey :D!

2010-06-02T14:25:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

Haha, yes yes, after disappearing for such a long time, we’re finally back with a blog entry :)! Have been really super duper busy with super duper a lot of stuff, and I’m finally getting a opportunity to blog because I’m down with tonsillitis at home haha….

Anyway, today I shall blog about the long belated birthday celebration of my Dearest Wifey, who is now officially in the middle of the mid-twenties! Hope she doesn’t pull my ear for revealing her age here, haha….

This time round, I surprised her with a Japanese-fusion multi-course degustation at wonderful Dozo.

We started cam-whoring the minute the starters started coming, haha….

Back to the food: we started the meal with a pair of refreshers!

And then we proceeded to the starters, which consist of salmon, scallop and foie gras!

Next up are the cold dishes! We first had the king crab claw, NICE :D!

We also had the sashimi, which was normal, haha…. Seriously suggest you go for the crab claw instead ;)

After that we moved on to the side dishes. Flying Paper had her soft shell crab :)

And I had my… escargot in yuzu butter!!!!

This had got to be the best tasting escargots I’ve ever had! Die-die must try. I’m making multiple trips back to Dozo just for the escargots!

Next up are the soups! First is the mushroom & truffle:

I had the crab bisque, which was wonderful, and came in an espresso cup!

While waiting for our main courses we decided to hone our photography skills ;)…. Flying Paper’s attempt at an artistic shot:

Mine!

And after a while the main courses came…. I was damn happy with my tenderloin in hot stone! Yummy yummy yum yum :)….

Flying Paper had the kurobuta pig’s cheek… sounds sinful, but it tasted oh so good :D!!!!

We wished they allowed larger portions, haha…. After the main courses, we were actually adjourned to lounge for the relaxing desserts! First up are the refreshing fusion teas:

We had the recommended chocolate cake with ice cream:

And also the Japanese mo-chi with green tea ice cream, which we prefer :)

After that the staff had a surprise for us!

My Dearest Wifey making her birthday wish :)….

It was a wonderful birthday dinner at Dozo, and you can sure we’ll be back again :)!!!! Now I’m gonna to start thinking of a nice place for Flying Paper to treat me to when it’s my birthday, muahahhaa :D….

That’s all for now, will be back with more entries, hopefully soon :)!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper :)

10 years time.....

2010-02-12T21:55:00.006+08:00

Barney and I have made a pact... We will each write a letter to each other and unlike other letters, there is one special rule......

That is, the letter can only be opened 10 years down the road, on 14th Feb 2020!! Then the second letter will be written and again it can only be opened in another 10 years... I dunno how many 10 years can this game continue but we shall see then.. haha

Yes, I have come up with this silly idea and luckily Barney finds it interesting :p I have just finished penning my letter and I find myself writing quite a lot to the Barney in 2020... What will he be like 10 years down the road, what will I be doing as a mid 30s woman? What will our life be like? I'm so curious....

The letter also serves as a record of the happenings in 2010 and letting myself in 2020 to 回味! I bet the wife in 2020 will be smiling at the letter written by the hubby in 2010.... By then, I guess we can only say 往事只能回味！Just like the diary that we used to write when we were young, don't you find it amusing when you read it again when you grow up?

To my hubby in 2020 ..............................

Happy Chinese New Year :D!!!!

2010-02-12T09:04:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

It’s a little bit early, but Flying Paper and I would like to wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year :D! May you have a joyful reunion dinner with your family, and hopefully strike Toto too, haha :D….

And yes, this blog has not been updated since the last new year! Eh, I meant the ang mo new year of course, haha :D…. Here’s a list of what we’ve been busy with:

1) Bejewelled Blitz. I tell you, this one-minute game is a misnomer because we ended up losing count of the number of ‘one-minute’s we spent on it! Having said that, we are still very lousy, haha…. We’re trying to beat each other’s score to claim the weekly prize of a Koi bubble from the best loser, haha :D….

2) Temptation of Wife. I used to think K-dramas are nothing more than long-winded tear-jerkers. Ok, this show is also long winded and soapy, but oh so addictive! We would rush home after work religious for the misadventures of Ju Encai, or camp in front of Youtube to catch up on any episodes we missed. It’s so good :D!!!!

3) One Piece Unlimited Cruise. Three years on and we’re still having fun with Wii! Amazing. I think we’re mad, trying to catch sharks and giant sea turtles in front of the TV. Heh.

As you can tell from the above, we are a modern nerd family, yeah :D!!!!

4) Other noteworthy stuff was this conversation we had during a bus trip a couple of months back.

“Do you think Hong Kong is nice?”

“I don’t know, let’s find out :)!”

Before we know it we were in Macau and Hong Kong!

It was our very first trip there and we ate, shopped, and took tones of pictures. Here’re some of them :)!

Haha, there’re actually quite a few major stuff that have been keeping us busy, will tell you about them when the time is due :)! Once again, happy Chinese New Year everyone :)!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus & Flying Paper :)

~Happy 2010~

2010-01-01T21:07:00.004+08:00

Hi, everyone! Today I woke up early on this first day of year 2010 for our annual run. Barney has this "tradition" that he will run on the first day of each year, therefore, I have the duty to complete this "tradition" with him....

So I dragged my sleepy-self out of bed and did my most disliked sport - running.. Actually, it's more of slow jogging for me.. haha, I'm not a good runner :P

We started from our house and jogged all the way to Yishun station.. We took about 50 mins for a distance of about 4.5km.. I know this timing is lousy but it is a great achievement for a person who jog only once a year, hahaha....

We ended our jog with a fulfilling breakfast at Ya Kun.. Yummy!!=D

Here's wishing all a great and fulfilling 2010.. Good health and good feelings always =)

Fun With The E-P1 :D!

2009-11-26T11:24:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

My goodness, it’s been quite some time since our last entry :D! One of the reasons why this is so is because we have got ourselves a new toy…. The Olympus E-P1 :D!!!!

Picture courtesy of dpreview.com

Yes yes, after getting thrashed by my Dearest Wifey in our photo contest, I’ve finally honored my loser’s forfeit and got her this wonderful camera from Olympus :)! We’re totally “wowed” by the picture quality of the E-P1, which is way better than our point-and-shoot digicams. What’s equally impressive is that fact that they managed to squeeze DSLR-like quality in such a petite package, which looks incredibly sexy with its retro styling!

Ok, enough talk! Here’s one of my first, and currently favorite picture I took of the Lovely Wifey :)

Me :)!

We love 1:1 aspect pictures :)!

Some ‘artistic’ shots:

We also tried our new toy out on the unsuspecting Ningjia and Jeffrey :)!!

And yes, as you can probably guess, we’re planning to have another photo contest soon :)!!!! The loser have to ‘sponsor’ a kick-ass set of lens this time, heh :)…. We have already starting taking lots of pictures, starting from Fort Canning :)! Stay tuned :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus :)

Wedding Anniversary Celebration

2009-10-09T13:56:00.007+08:00

I know it's a bit overdue but since I'm nursing my wisdom tooth extraction, I better start blogging about it, hee......

14 Sep 09 was our first year wedding anniversary. Some time back, Barney chanced upon a great deal for Regent's one night stay. The price was only half price of their usual rate, so we decided to book one night stay at Regent!!

We were already quite pleased with the good offer and what made us even happier was that they upgraded our standard room to........ (at no additional cost)

Minister suite!!!!!! See my shocked face!

The suite was really huge. Besides the bedroom, there's also a large living room, dining area, 2 bathrooms and 2 TVs!!........ The hotel stuff even joked that we could play hide and seek there... haha

See our happy faces!

The celebration went on with us going to Cineleisure to take Neoprint! It was like ages ago since we took Neoprints and we had fun posing and decorating the photos.... Soon it was time for dinner and we decided to try out a place where we never dined before...

So as we walked, we chanced upon "Sun with Moon" at Wheelock place and decided to give it a try... Our verdict: It was nice!! The deco was nice, so was the atmosphere and food... =)

So that's about our first year wedding anniversary celebration.... A year on and counting =)

Wedding Anniversary Eve brunch!

2009-09-20T16:32:00.006+08:00

Hi, everyone, it's Flying Paper's turn to blog... hee...

As some of you know, 14 September 09 was our first year wedding anniversary! Can't believe it has been one year already since we got married... To celebrate, we had a Sunday brunch on the eve of our anniversary at......

We heard that Sunday brunch at this 6-star hotel costs about $130 each!!! However, we were lucky enough to eat there for FREE!! Yeah!! Haha, we won the Sunday brunch vouchers at a lucky draw so we decided to use it on this special occasion.. hee hee....

The place for the Sunday brunch was Brasserie Les Saveurs and the restaurant was indeed posh and most importantly, the buffet made us feel hungry!!!

We were ushered to our seat and we were told that besides the buffet spread, there would be al-carte food dishes that the waiters would bring around to each table. We were also given a food menu where we were allowed to choose a main course too.....

Here are some of the food pictures we took..... Pardon for the few photos as we were busy eating to take pictures, haha....

The starter that they gave to each table...Frankly speaking, I don't know what the dishes are :P

A bun with "foam"

They even served Chinese food, roast pork! They were juicy and crispy!! Yummy!

Our favourite Sashimi!!

Foie Gras...Mmm, we don't really fancy this...

Bread corner....

Fresh Oysters! But we were not a fan of this delicacy :P

Meanwhile, we ordered our mains... They served Beef, Wagyu beef somemore...Barney wouldn't resist them in normal times but however, he has made a promise not to eat beef for this year of Ox so he had to give them a miss :p

I ordered the scallops while he ordered the Salmon.. Both were nice!

What's a buffet without desserts!! Even though we were full already, we couldn't say No to the sweet treats!! Their desserts corner were full of delicious looking cakes/pastries/chocolate etc

Wow!!! Yummy!

Barney loved this chocolate mousse cake~!

Hazelnut cake... nice too!

That chocolate cake ended our Sunday brunch and we left happily with a full stomach!! (Although I felt guilty after that as I had eaten so much... haha)

The Flying Paper and Barneysaurus Photo Contest, Part 2 :)!!!!

2009-09-09T09:38:00.004+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

It’s been more than a month since our Photo Contest, and we have a winner already :D!!!!

I knew I was in deep trouble when my Dearest Wifey went up 2-1 in our contest when she got 11 votes vs my 9 during the Week 3 theme of Old World Architecture…. I knew I had to buck up for the following weeks :P!!!! We were both so pumped up about the contest we even made a trip to the Botantic Gardens to shoot Flora & Fauna, which was the theme for Week 4 :)!

After a hot afternoon of getting bitten by mosquitoes, I came up with this:

My poor Wifey was bitten by even more mosquitoes, plus some bugs (we had to apply 'mopiko' for the poor girl after that :P), and here's her masterpiece :)!

Initially when I saw her flower, I thought “Haha, this week I sure win!” because I thought the flower was ugly :D! Little did I know that I will end up getting thrashed with only 4 votes for myself and a whopping 11 votes for Dearest Wifey :D!

The next theme that we drew for Week 5 was very interesting: What Money Can’t Buy ;)! Since it was not about any subject in particular, we were given free rein to come up with any stuff, and I decided on a picture of the sky:

Flying Paper took an entirely different direction with a folded heart ;)!

I think on creativity alone, the Dearest Wifey’s got an edge over me. Plus her picture was really well taken, and it ended up in another victory for her with 9 votes to 4 :D!!

I realized that I was in really deep shit because I was already down by 4-1 in the total tally, and another loss will allow Flying Paper to be the outright winner! For Week 6, we drew another creative theme, “Backview”! We went around exploring the sleepy town of Toa Payoh to look for inspiration, and I ended up with a shot of this kitty:

Here’s Flying Paper’s shot of The Boy With A Tight Butt ;)!

This time, it was a very tight race with 8 votes for each picture! After the original deadline expired, we decided to let the next vote to be the tie-breaker…. And the vote went to my Dearest Wifey :)!!!!

Haha, needless to say, she’s over the moon because besides bragging rights, she will soon be a proud owner of a sparkling new Olympus PEN E-P1, that will be ‘happily sponsored’ by me, haha…. My poor pockets :P!!!! I demand a rematch :D!!!!

Even though I ended up as the ‘1st Runner-Up’ for the contest, it was definitely a most memorable contest for the two of us, what with the exploration of old colonial buildings, insects at Botanic Gardens, sneaking up on unsuspecting cats and kids, haha :D….

And of course, a Big THANK YOU for our dear friends who voted and supported our silly little contest :)!!!! You made it possible wor :D!!!! THANK YOU :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus

The Flying Paper and Barneysaurus Photo Contest :)!!!!

2009-08-06T13:02:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone :)!!!!

It started out one lazy Sunday over lunch. Flying Paper and I each took a picture of this Japanese dessert, and started arguing over whose picture was better:

The one taken by my dearest Wifey:

And the one taken by yours truly:

Actually, it’s not the first time we argued over who is the better photographer, but this time we decided to take things further by putting it to vote!

Using Facebook as our ‘battleground’, we decided to test our photography skills over a period of 8 weeks. Since July, we have been shooting pictures according to a randomly-picked pre-defined theme. After careful selection, we will choose the picture we feel most confident about and then put it up for voting by our friends every Saturday night :)! We’re so into it we even created a set of rules for ourselves :)!

- All pictures will come straight from the camera with no post-processing done. This is because we’re competing our photography skills and not photoshopping abilities, haha. . . .
- All pictures will be taken by the Fujifilm F100fd, our trusty point-and-shoot compact digicam. We’ve been meaning to get a DSLR but both are too stingy, haha. . . .
- We will only reveal the photographer of each picture at the end of the week-long voting so as to prevent biases
- Only votes submitted through Facebook will be counted towards the final tally. This is to prevent myself from claiming “I got 1000 votes from my colleagues :)!”

For the very first week, we decided to use the Japanese dessert pictures because that’s what started the whole thingy. . . . And I was thoroughly trounced :D! The final tally was 10 votes for Flying Paper and only 1 sympathy vote for me. . . . Needless to say, the dearest Wifey had a great time gloating to me about it for the whole week, haha :D. . . .

I was determined to get my ‘revenge’, and so tried very hard for the second week’s theme, which was Two of a Kind:

Flying Paper took a different approach to the theme:

I was very happy because the final tally read 5 votes for her and 11 votes for me :)! The contest now stands at 1 win each :)!

We grew very excited when we drew the theme for the 3rd week, which was Old World Architecture. We spent a whole afternoon taking lots of pictures around City Hall area, trying to compose pictures that we felt would do justice to the theme. This is what we came out with, starting with Picture A:

And here’s Picture B:

As of the last count, it’s a really close fight with a current tally of 9 votes for Picture A and 10 votes for Picture B! We’re both feeling damn anxious now because it’s just a day plus left to the end of voting, haha :D. . . .

A big reason why we are feeling so excited about this contest is because besides bragging rights, the winner will get to win an Olympus PEN E-P1, courtesy of the ‘1st Runner-Up’:D!!

We are both praying hard that we won’t have to fork the cash for the camera, haha :D. . . . For those who have been voting, a really big THANK YOU for supporting our silly little contest :D!!!! Do please keep the votes coming, thanks thanks :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus

Our Royal Caribbean Cruise Part 2 :)!

2009-07-11T12:27:00.006+08:00

Today is Flying Paper's turn to report on the long overdue part 2 of our Royal Carribbean Trip! :P

Well, that day, the ship would dock at Penang, and you had a choice whether you wanted to get off the ship and had a trip at Penang. I think visitors had around 3 to 4 hours of exploring time before the ship sailed off...

So with nothing much to do, we decided to explore Penang as we heard there were yummy food there :P

After breakfast, we waited patiently at the lobby for our queue number to be called. Visitors were divided into groups as the boat to Penang could only carry a limited number of passengers.

The ship captain!!

After a short ride, we reached the harbour of Penang!

When we reached, there were a lot of taxi drivers, trying to get the visitors to hitch a ride. We were "bombarded" by many offers but however, Barney and I felt rather uncomforable and the rates were a bit too expensive so we decided to WALK to our destination!!! Previously, we heard that there's a shopping mall nearby with food street also, so we decided to go there to take a look....

Without realising that actually the shopping mall was quite a distance away, we just walked along the busy streets of Penang, taking in the sights and sounds...

It was a hot day that day and we walked for quite some time before we finally reached the shopping mall!! As Chinese New Year was around the corner, there was a God of Fortune there! haha...

We went straight to the shopping mall to enjoy the air-con and have a coffee at the George Town White Coffee shop!

Barney enjoying the coffee~!

Actually we realised that there's nothing much special about the shopping centre so we decided to hit the street to look for food!! hee hee....

We decided to go to one of the coffee shop to try out their char kway tiao!!

Yummy!!

It was nice! And quite cheap also... we shared a plate and while we were eating, we noticed an interesting sign! haha

After eating, we walked around and explored... Here's me posing at one of their markets..There were quite a lot of flies on top of the food they were selling -_-"

We saw more food and but Barney dun take spicy stuff, we didn't eat much (like laksa etc), so we decided to try another plate of char kway tiao again!!! :P

Equally yummy!!

Later, we decided that we were too tired and took taxi back to the harbour!

Around the harbour area

When we were back at our room, we had a pleasant surprise! The room attendant had folded a towel dog!! Impressed

Dinner time arrived and we went there to the restuarant. I liked their soup and dessert... hee... The main course was not really special to me, maybe I'm not a big fan of western food... Barney, however enjoyed his steak very much (as usual)...

Stayed tuned for Part 3!! =)

Bao Bei’s 1st Birthday Celebration as My Wifey :D!!!!

2009-05-27T13:56:00.001+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

Exactly 24 years and 13 days ago, the loveliest girl in the whole wide world was born :). . . . And she goes by the name of Flying Paper :D!!!!

We celebrated the actual day with the whole family, and she ended up with two big chocolate cakes for the day because her wonderful friends at her work place also surprised her with a celebration earlier in the day :)! But somehow, I ended up eating most of the chocolate cakes, haha :D….

That wasn’t the end of the celebration of course ;)! We went to explore Dempsey over the weekend :)!

We’ve always heard about Dempsey being the new ín’ place for dining, and since we are both lovers of Jap cuisine, decided to try out this place call Rakuichi :)

We had a hard time ordering because everything on the menu looks so good :D!!!! The first thing we attacked was of course the sashimi ;). . . .

Not forgetting the sushi. . . .

And more sushi :)!!!!

As you can see my dearest Wifey was seriously wondering if we could finish everything ;). . . .

We also had some grilled fish. . . .

Mushrooms :). . . .

And we ended the meal with our favorite: Black Sesame ice cream :D!!!!

Overall, we had a good time at Rakuichi, which scored points with its the great selection, taste, décor, and friendly service :)! Thumbs up :)!

We wanted to go to the nearby Botanic Gardens for a stroll but our legs and stomachs just couldn’t take it after the very heavy meal, haha :D. . . . We ended up shopping at Orchard instead :)!

There was this electronics fair going on at Takashimaya, and my dearest wifey dragged me over to have a look because she knows I’ve been eyeing a new computer. It turns out that they were offering a good trade-in price if I bring my old CPU in.

Now you know you have got yourself a good wife if she is willing to go look at computer and IT stuff with you even if it’s on her birthday. But the way to tell you have a WONDERFUL wife is when she willingly travels all the way back home with you to Sembawang to pick up your CPU and then travel back to Orchard :D!!!!

I must be the luckiest man alive :)

To reward my lovely girl, we went to our favorite restaurant for dinner: Anugus House :D!!!!

They’ve changed the starter from the previous fried-prawn thingy to this steamed/fried prawn thingy, and it taste GREAT :D!

The mains were no disappointment, but we were keeping our fingers crossed when they were about to serve desserts. Vivian was telling us how wonderful their tiramisu tasted, and we were really hoping they will serve tiramisu this time. I think it was Flying Paper’s birthday wish coming true because they really did served us tiramisu :D!!!!

Overall, it was a great day of beautiful memories with my dearest wifey :). . . . Hope you enjoyed it dear :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus :)

Our Royal Caribbean Cruise Part 1 :)!

2009-04-14T15:07:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!! Long time no see wor :D!!!!

Flying Paper and I was walking around in Harbor Front the other day, and since it was a long weekend, we decided to hop on a cruise onboard the Royal Caribbean :D!!!!

Haha, actually we went on our cruise way back in January, but I only got down to blogging it today because of other serious commitments, such as ~~playing Fire Emblem on Wii~~ work :)! Anyway, standby for a barrage of photos :D!!!!

First up, a lovely photo of my lovely wifey, keke :). . . .

After checking in, we didn’t waste any time and made a mad rush for the buffet lunch because we are hungry and greedy Singaporeans, haha :D. . . .

Now I must say that we are usually not very impressed by free buffet lunches because the variety and taste are usually so so only. . . . But the food onboard The Legend of The Seas really rocked :D!! Our first meal and already I was impressed by the fried chicken which taste like an improved version of KFC, plus it’s de-boned. ROCKS :D!!!!

I wanted to stuff myself silly with even more food, but wifey dragged me away because I was getting fat, and also because we had to take part in the fire drill :)!

After that we went about exploring the ship, which was really, really huge! Check out the pool deck:

For those who prefer a indoor dip, there’s also a indoor pool :)!

There’s even a rock wall, though we never tried because our legs will get wobbly, haha :D. . . .

The best thing was the weather, which was really good throughout our cruise :)!

Not long after, Flying Paper decided to go for a jog because she claimed that she ate too much ;)!

After that she even went for a game of golf :D!!!!

Being lazy me, all I wanted to do was eat. For the record, I finished both ‘oddly-shaped’ chocolate cones by myself, haha :D. . . .

I have no idea what’s with the following photo, heh :)

One of the highlights of the cruise was the gala dinner, which falls on the first night of our cruise :)! We’re required to be formally dressed for the dinner, and it feels like prom all over again sia :D!

Hmmm, maybe it feels like prom again because I wore the same suit as I did for the prom! Eh, wifey, if you are reading this, I really don’t mind a well-tailored Hugo Boss for my birthday you know :)? Muahaha :D. . . .

Now here’s a tip: There’s this ‘My Time’ dining option for Royal Caribbean cruises, where you get to choose your own dining schedule instead of the two pre-defined time-slots arranged by your travel agency. Besides getting a more flexible dining timing, the added advantage is that the likelihood of you getting a romantic two-seater is higher :D! That’s what happened to Flying Paper and I throughout the cruise, heh :). . . .

Let’s check out the menu :D!

I wasn’t too hopeful about cruise dinners after our experience at Star Cruise, but I was glad that Royal Caribbean was able to change our perception :D! The food, to put it simply, was fantastic. Check out the shrimp cocktail:

Flying Paper’s seabass :)!

I went for the escargot (DELICIOUS :D!), and the beef filet:

The filet was fantastic, but I thought the portion wasn’t really filling. You can thus imagine how happy I was when the staff brought a sirloin just to fill me up :D!

I was so full by the time I was done with the steak, but there’s always room for dessets, keke :). . . . I went for my favorite chocolate ice cream while wifey went for the soufflé :)!

By the end of it, I was so seriously full :D!! In contrast, my dearest wifey was still the perfect picture of poise, keke :). . . .

And that about wraps it up for the first day of our cruise :)! Standby for Part 2 :)!

With Love,
Barneysaurus :)!

Happy Valentine Day

2009-02-15T21:57:00.006+08:00

Yesterday was Valentine's day... Wherever we walked, we could see couples dressed up nicely, gals holding flowers/bears from their boyfriends, or their boyfriends "unwillingly" holding these gifts for them.. haha..

So how about married couples? Do they spend as much effort as those courting couples? Mmm...I'm glad to say that Barney still does!!! ^_^

Yesterday he surprised me by booking a hotel room for Valentine's day! He packed the needed toiletries and my clothes in his bag while I was still sleeping in the morning... However, later I realised something was fishy when I realised my toothbrush was missing when we had finished our early lunch at home...

Later, when we went out, I realised that he had booked a room at Hotel Intercontinental! Yeah, a pleasant surprise!!!

Our celebration was a movie treat by me... haha.. We watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

It's about a man who was born in his eighties and was aging backwards.... The man was becoming younger.. This may sound good, doesn't it? But it wasn't really good.... Imagine watching your loved ones getting old and die... your beloved's pain of watching you becoming a baby, instead of growing old together.........

It was a good show as it made you ponder over some stuff that you will face in real life.....

We had also a nice Jap dinner too before the show... The show lasted about 3 hours so we decided to have an early dinner, then watched the movie.. hee...

By the way, we also saw something amusing.. It's the special offer by Duck Tour.. See the range of actions you can do to earn the discounts.. wooo..... U want a $8 discount?? haha....

Happy Valentine's day!! =)

Our First CNY as a Married Couple :D!!!!

2009-02-06T16:07:00.003+08:00

A VERY HAPPY “NIU” YEAR TO EVERYONE AH :D!!!! HUAT HUAT HUAT AH :D!!!!

First of all, have to say to a ‘PAISEH’ to everyone for not updating for so long :P! We have been kept occupied by a lot of stuff, which we will blog about in time to come :)! Today, we will report on our very first CNY as a married couple :D!

You can tell how prepared Flying Paper and I were for CNY: we were both dressed in auspicious red during our Reunion Dinner :D!

I wanted to show some photos of the steamboat we had, but decided not to because my sister-in-law don’t want to be ‘exposed’ in our blog, keke :)…. Here’s a photo with my In-laws instead :)!

We went to the River Ang Pow at Marina after lunch, and was so sian because unlike the previous years, they only open at 6pm this year :P! Undeterred, Flying Paper and I made another trip down a few days later, haha :D….

We also hosted a mini CNY Wii party at our place last weekend :D! It was an opportunity for us to thank Peishan, Peiyun, Su Fen and Lam for helping us out on our Big Day, keke :)

My dearest wifey demonstrating how to play :)!!

We got a sadistic kick when we saw how our friends struggled at certain games, keke :). . . . One of our friends, ~~Peiyun~~ whom we shouldn’t name, also managed to create a ‘historic’ score in Wii Fit, muahahah :D!!!! No photos, unless someone is willing to bribe us :)

Anyway, what’s a CNY party without Yu Sheng :D?!?!?

Preparation in progress :)

And then we were ready :D!!!!

It was a really fun afternoon, though we had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning up afterwards, keke ;)….

Here’s wishing everyone a most wonderful, prosperous, and enjoyable Year of the Ox ah :D!!!!

With Love,
Flying Paper & Barneysaurus :)

Happy 2009 to Everyone :D!!!!

2009-01-01T20:44:00.000+08:00

Flying Paper & I would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a very Happy 2009 :)! May it be a fruitful year for all, let’s all work hard and jia you :)!!!!

This is the first New Year we are celebrating as a married couple, and we started the year with something we have not done together before: We woke up super duper early for a New Year run :D!!!!

I think for those sporty couples, a morning run is not much of a big deal, but when you are talking about lazy couples like us, waking up early just for a run is nothing short of a miracle :D! In fact, we were wondering the night before if we would back out of the run when we wake up, haha :D…. Luckily, we didn’t, and it was a great feeling having the wind against your face, the sun on your cheeks, the scent of fresh vegetation and of course our hands held tightly together as we went forward in unison :). . . .

We are toying with the idea of making this a weekly event so that we can be trim and fit, hope this plan works out well :)! Once again, a Happy New Year to everyone wor :D!!!!

With Love,
Flying Paper & Barneysaurus :)!

The Southern Ridges Adventure

2008-12-20T21:48:00.010+08:00

On one fine Sunday, 2 lazy pigs suddenly became "hardworking" and decided to go on The Southern Ridges Adventure!!! These 2 lazy pigs woke up early that day to prepare their picnic lunch to bring there..hee...

Preparation in process

The Southern Ridges is a 9-kilometre walk starting from HarbourFront station and ends at Kent Ridge Park . However, we decided to start from Kent Ridge Park so that we can end our journey at the air-conditioned HarbourFront!! :P Our choice ended up to be a good one as by walking the reverse direction, we were walking downhill most of the time so less tiring.. haha

Kent Ridge Park!

The walk started.....

We spotted a Canon!

Next up is to walk towards Canopy Walk and Hort Park!

Walking....

And finally, we reached Hort Park!!

Hort Park is a gardening hub and we found this place rather interesting =) This park is also one hot spot for pre-wedding photography!! Should have come here for photgraphy if I know this place earlier.. hee hee

We saw glass houses!!

Some beautiful flowers in the glass houses

Tinman!

Colourful windmills

At about noon, we had to take a break from the long walk and had our picnic lunch!! Haha

Next up, we saw the Alexandra Arch which at night, the bridge will dazzle with colour-changing LED lights.

Henderson waves ahead!

Wavy bridge

After so long, we reached Marang trail!!

The Marang trail leads us to the cable car station at the Jewel Box on Mount Faber to HarbourFront station...

Cable car

The start of Marang Trail which is a short walk through the forested area

And finally, and finally, we were out of Marang Trail!!! By then, we were already quite exhausted and our legs were tired!!

Happy!!!

Yeah, we completed the Southern Ridges Adventure!! Hooray!!

Stacia's Baby Shower + 3rd Anniversary Celebration :D!!!!

2008-12-02T13:08:00.004+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

I’ve been trying to upload our wedding day express highlights to YouTube without success :P!!!! Haha, think maybe the file size too big already, will try again when I have more time to spare, haha :). . . .

And we bear good news in this post :D! Can you recall us attending a wedding show at Marina Mandarin with KP and Ivan last October? We are pleased to announce here that the happy couple have just celebrated the birth of their first-born, Stacia, in a super duper nice baby shower where I gorged myself with too much chocolate ice cream :D!

KP and Ivan, if you are reading this: I wasn’t trying to scare your cute baby, really :)!

Click here for Reporter Flying Paper’s account of the baby shower :)! Once again, a big CONGRATS to Ivan and KP wor :)!!!!

After the baby shower, Flying Paper and I went to celebrate our 3-year anniversary (of officially being an item :)!) at our favorite restaurant, Angus House :D!

We really enjoy dining at this place because the décor, service, and ambience is simply fantastic! But of course, the bigger reason why we love the place is the Food! Check out the attention they gave just for the starters!

For me, the main attraction is definitely the steaks :P!

Maybe it’s just me, but I think the taste is much better than Lawry’s or Morton’s, heh. . . . I couldn’t resist taking a close up :)!

But of course, the biggest reason why I always have a great dining experience there is because of the loveliest girl who is there by my side :). . . .

My dear, it’s been more than 2 months since our Big Day, but I’ve never stopped counting my blessings, haha :). . . . Looking forward to our January mini-holiday :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus :)!

Our Wedding - Part 5 "The Wedding Dinner" :)!

2008-11-19T17:16:00.001+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

Today is the last installment of our wedding day report, and I shall cover what happened during the wedding dinner :D!!!!

First, let me bring you through our ballroom :)!

Our ballroom backdrop :)

The solemnization table :D!

Tabletop settings :)

And of course, our rings :). . . .

A very big Thank You to Florence of Impact Creative for the beautiful wedding theme and the fabulous wedding flavors :D!!!!

Outside: the reception table :D!

Our guest book :)!

Most of our guests were very punctual. . . . THANK YOU :D!!!!

Finally, it was almost time for the wedding to start :D! Our emcees, Peishan and Lucas in action :)!

Our parents preparing to witness our solemnization :). . . .

And then it was almost time for the march-in :D!!!! After doing so many military weddings for my friends, it’s finally my turn with my dearest Flying Paper, heh :). . . .

If anyone is interested in the Men-In-Uniform, do let know, muahahah :D. . . .

While my swordsmen were lining up along the aisle, Flying Paper and I was feeling so so nervous outside the ballroom :D! We were really worried we will trip or something, haha :D. . . . So we grabbed each other’s hands as tight as possible, and stepped into the limelight :)!

Fortunately, we managed to get onto the stage without any mishap, haha :). . . .

We were very fortunate to my Mr Chia, one of the most popular JPs in Singapore, to officiate our wedding :)!!!!

And so we exchanged our vows :). . . .

. . . . exchanged our rings :). . . .

. . . . and of course locked our lips :)! So shy, haha :D. . . .

Then we cut the cake, which the manager told us can be kept for a year wor :D!

A snapshot of our guests :)!

Barely two courses into the dinner, and we had to pause our dinner to change to our evening attire :)!

In the meantime, our guests are kept entertained with the highlights video clip, the one with me dancing really badly, haha :D. . . .

And then we made our entrance again :D!!!!

I had to do the champagne popping, and it was incredibly embarrassing because I had such a hard time doing it :D!!!! It was one of the longest 30-seconds in my life, and you can’t believe how relieved Flying Paper and me was when I finally succeeded, keke :). . . .

Champagne pouring time :D!

The love toast :). . . .

And of course the Yum Seng session :D!

We took turns to give a short speech :)! I wanted to sing ‘Ji Pa Ban’ but Flying Paper told me she will snap my neck if I did, muahahaha :D!!!!

And then we went around taking pictures with all our friends :D!

To encourage early attendance, my clever wifey came up with the brilliant idea of a lucky draw for early-birds :D! For the record, 90% of our guests arrived before 7:30pm wor :D! here’s the lovely girl drawing the lucky lot :)

We think the happiest lucky draw winner was Junkai, even though he only won our cheapo Akira DVD player, heh ;). . . . Check out his grin :D!

Before we knew it, the dinner was ending already, and we lined up outside the ballroom to thank our guests for gracing the most important day of our lives :)

I was very fortunate not to get saboed so much (amazing considering how crazy my friends are. Ah Sai, you reading this :D?). There was still the few glasses of red wine (?) though!

And when they really wanted to sabo me, I just try my best to ‘siam’, heh ;)

After lots of photos, handshakes and hugs, all our friends and relatives made their way home, but I was not lonely because standing next to me with her hand in mine, is the love of my life :). . . . To my Dearest Wifey: No journey is too tough as long as you are by my side my dear girl :)!

And this concludes the wedding report of our wedding day :D! Stay tuned for the wedding video clip which we will put up soon, as well as the full report of our Honeymoon Adventure in Japan :D!!!!

With Love,
Flying Paper & Barneysaurus :)

Our Wedding - Part 4 "The Tea Ceremony"

2008-11-12T22:07:00.004+08:00

After the photoshoot, we headed back to Barney's house for the tea ceremony. As our bridal car arrived at his house, his nephew came and opened the door for us. An ang bao for him! Haha...

When we entered the house, the elders are supposed to hide in a room to avoid seeing the bride. So off we went to our bedroom first to take photos!

Later, we were asked to eat tang yuan which they said symbolised union!

Next up was the "jumping and rolling on the bed" by his nephew!! Haha, he seemed a bit reluctant to roll and jump as a lot of eyes were on him.

Finally it's time for the tea ceremony!

Barney had a lot of relatives on his side so we spent quite a long time serving tea to the relatives as well as being served by the younger relatives! Haha, giving and receiving ang baos were quite an experience...

Groom's family!

Before heading back to my house, I had to take out my veil and changed into my red kua!!

Barney had a hard time taking out the veil!

My kua!

Us in bridal car!

Walking towards my house..

At my house, we had to eat a bowl of mee sua and an egg.. so full! haha

We proceeded with the tea ceremony but as not a lot of relatives came to my house, our tea ceremony here was quite fast, hee hee.

Us with my family!

After the tea ceremony, we had to head for the hotel to rest for a while and to prepare for the wedding dinner. Our jie meis and xiong dis then left on their own to go home to prepare for the night too!

The group photo before we met again at wedding dinner!

Our wedding dinner next!!!!

Our Wedding - Part 3 "The Outdoor Photoshoot"

2008-10-31T16:22:00.007+08:00

After Barney finally braved through all the tortures, we left happily for my favourite part of my morning session - The Outdoor Photoshoot!!

The photographer and videographer suggested The Bottle Tree Park as it was near our home and it was a beautiful place. So off we went!!

My dad sheltering me into the car!

Us in the bridal car...

We were really glad that the weather was fine as the day before my wedding was a rainy day. Was happy that the weather was nice for photo-taking although it started to turn hot later.. hee..

When we reached The Bottle Tree Park, we started to take photos! Let the pictures do the talking for a while...

Anyone wants to buy 4D? haha

My bouquet!

Pulling Rhys's ears! hee hee

The gang in black...

Nice group photo!

See how hard they tried to jump high.. haha..

My long train.. hee hee...

Walking hand in hand....

The nice bridge...

We were really lucky on that day cos a group of people have booked a part of the place for a special event and they decorated the entrance with balloons and the bride with ribbons. Having thick skin, we actually borrowed their balloons for photo-taking! Hee hee... I like the balloons!!

Of course, in Bottle Tree Park, we couldn't miss taking photo with the Bottle Tree!

I looked tall here.. haha

Finally, it's time for the toss-the-bouquet session!! Haha, before my wedding, the jie meis excluding peiyun have decided to let peiyun catch the bouquet as it's our wish to let her find her prince charming soon...

Getting ready to throw the bouquet

Ta-dah!! Peiyun knew that she has been "sabo" to catch the bouquet since everyone pushed her to catch the flowers.. haha... Hope u find ur prince charming soon ya =)

It was a fun session and a tiring one since the sun was shining so brightly.. haha... Around 1030am, we left for the tea ceremony in Barney's house!

To the next destination!

Our Wedding - Part 2 "The Bridal Challenges"

2008-10-23T13:04:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

I am typing this with trembling fingers: today, I shall recount the horrible tasks the horrible sisters made me and my 兄弟s went through before I get to kiss my lovely Flying Paper :D!!!!

The easiest task in the morning was waiting for Cosmo to open the bridal car door for me, and I think he was smiling broadly because of the big ang pow he received :D!

And I have to thank my lovely兄弟s for waking up so early just to get ‘sabo’ed with me, haha :D. . . .

Some quick intros from left to right :D!

1) Lucas: My Best Man, he's my best buddy ever since we slept together in the jungles of Brunei back in 1999, muahahaha.... Simply the bestest friend one can get ;)! He was the overall coordinator cum emcee for my Big Day, dun play play!

2) Jeffrey: My ‘lover’ from uni, we shared many memorable memories in the toilets of NTU that I shall not reveal here, heh.... I wanted him to be my head coord for photo taking and also the drinking session because he got the ah beng look, but he claims he can’t drink -__- ”. . . .

3) Koh Yang Yang: My ‘lover’ since our days in poly, he is understandably the most heart-broken person when he heard I'm getting married but not to him, heh. Because he has a big-ass MPV, he ferried the lovely and beautiful Jie Meis around, heh....

4) Lam: None of the above brothers dared to flirt with the lovely Jie Meis because one of them is Lam’s girlfriend wor :D! Keke, because of his privileged position we thought we would have an easier time getting through the bridal gates, keke :)....

We bravely marched on, unaware of the ‘terrors’ that were waiting for us. . . .

The ‘terrors’:

The first task was to complete this Chinese tongue twister in a super duper short time!

Despite our best efforts, I ended up looking like this a few seconds later:

For some unknown reasons my兄弟s were quite happy to see me getting punnished -__- ”. . . .

It was the ‘Love Apple Challenge’ after that!

We had to grab a bite of the apple, which was suspended really high up in the air, without using chairs or hands! After fumbling initially, we figured out how to carry out the task ;)!

Then for some other unknown reasons, the sisters wanted us to perform a song and dance, which we gladly obliged because we have thick skin, hehe :)

Acutally it was not as easy as it sounds because they wanted me to show some skin too. Tsk tsk, youngsters nowadays :D!!!!

Then it was time for the horrible horrible bittergourd drink that they so ‘painstakingly’ prepared for us :(. . . .

Some of us handled it better :). . . .

Some did not handle it as well. . . .

And finally, for some it was pure torture :D!!!!

Seriously, the jie meis really have it good. Not only did they get to sabo us, they get to pocket lots of ang pow too :(. . . . In fact, they made me top up the amount just so as to satisfy their insatiable Greed :(. . . .

After taking my money, they still want to see me suffering :(!

Kids, please don’t try this at home!

Luckily, I have the most wonderful mother-in-law who put an end to our suffering, keke :). . . .

And finally we are in :D!!!!

But wait, why was the sisters blocking our way again :(????

It turned out that they engaged our singing and dancing so much they wanted to be ‘entertained’ again -__- ”. . . .

There was also a ‘Love Pledge’ that I had to say in Mandarin, no problem :D!!!!

After all the challenges, I was finally in :). . . .

. . . . and I knew all the ‘sabo’ was worth it because of my lovely Flying Paper :). . . .

Of course I couldn’t resist kissing my beautiful bride :)!!!!

I am the luckiest man in the world :). . . .

Next up: Our adventures at The Bottle Tree Park :D!!!! Stayed tuned :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus :)!!!!

Our Wedding - Part 1 "The Morning Preparation"

2008-10-18T21:59:00.004+08:00

Hi everyone, we will be reporting our actual day wedding for the next few posts!! Hee, this post will be about the morning preparation for the gatecrash.

Venue: Bride's house
Time: 530am to 8am
People involved: Brides's family and the Jie Meis!

The morning started off with my family waking up early at around 530am. Actually, to my surprise and to many others too, I didn't feel nervous at all.. Haha.. felt quite calm even when my make-up artist (MUA), photographer and videographer came...

My Jie Meis arrived shortly at around 7am and started to prepare for the gatecrash. Meanwhile, I was being transformed from a maid-look alike little girl to a pretty bride (at least to myself :P)

Transformation in process

Curious Jie Meis

Girls' Power!!

Putting on the veil

Well, for the rest, it was my Jie Meis in action. My Jie Meis were preparing the materials for the gatecrash while I sat in my room. No fun one cos I wasn't supposed to go out..

They were preparing the punishment!! If they failed their task, they would be made to drink a mixture of bittergourd, lemon and lime juice!!! Marrying me is not easy k.. haha...

Sufen cutting the bittergourd... see the lemon?? keke

The final product!! Anyone wants to try?? :P

My sister and Peishan preparing one of the tasks..

Rhys & Xiong Dis, beware!!!!

Stay tuned to see how Rhys and his Xiong Dis braved through the tasks!! Hee hee, funny funny!!

Back from our Honeymoon :)!!!!

2008-10-06T21:11:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone :D! Yes yes, we are finally back from our honeymoon :D! Although we spent 12 days in Japan, it didn’t felt like it was enough and we are now suffering from pre-Monday Blues, haha :D. . . . We wanna eat the yummy yummy sushi again :D!!!!

Just in case you think we will stop writing our mushy-mushy-lovey-dovey rubbish after our wedding, you are wrong :D!!!! There’s a whole lot of posts and pictures coming up, but we’ll need some time to prepare them, haha :D. . . . In the meantime, here’s the pre-dinner video (done by the wonderful folks at Visio Workz) we showed on our wedding, hope you will enjoy it too :)!

With Love,
Flying Paper & Barneysaurus :)!

My recollections of the Big Day :D!!!!

2008-09-18T23:49:00.004+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

I find it unbelievable, but it’s have actually been four days since we got married :D! Just like what Flying Paper did yesterday, I’m gonna recollect what happened on our Big Day today :)!!!!

The super duper busy day actually started 24 hours earlier! There was really a lot of things to settle the day before, such as the collection of gowns and bridal car décor, and since Flying Paper and I can’t meet each other according to Chinese customs, I enlisted the help of my bestest buddy (ever!) and his wonderful gal :)!

Introducing Joyce and Lucas :)!

Seriously, without the help of these two wonderfuls I couldn’t have managed with the hectic tasks on the Eve! Buddy, I know you are reading this: I will do my best to look for a Japanese D300 brochure for you when I’m in Japan :)!

I thought I will drift into dreamland relatively easy because of all the running around I did, but I have no idea how wrong I was! I went to bed at 11pm, but was so excited I only slept at around 2am I guess. . . . Then I woke up at 4am and couldn’t fall back to sleep thereafter. I was filled with memories of my courtship of Flying Paper, and all the nitty-gritty details of the wedding, even the weather because according to the weatherman, there were supposed to be thunderstorms over the weekend. You can thus understand that I’m incredible envious of Wifey Paper, who had no problems whatsoever with her beauty sleep :D!

Finally, the morning arrived, and I was most thankful because it was the most lovely bright and sunny morning :D! My dearest groomsmen, Yang Yang, Jeffrey, Lam and of course Lucas arrived really early, and after a quick briefing, we set off to Flying Paper’s home :)! The bridesmaids were there waiting for us, and I bet the ~~evil~~ beautiful姐妹 s had a great time subjecting us to humiliating acts and of course grabbing lots of $$$, muahahaha ;). . . .

We cleared their challenges, and I know all the ‘torture’ and the bittergroud juice was worth it because when I opened the bridal door, I saw the most beautiful angel waiting for me in her snow-white gown :)

What happened after that was really a big blur: the photo-taking and videography session at Bottle Tree Park, and of course the tea-ceremonies at our respective parents’ places, during which I finally get to call uncle and auntie ‘pa’ and ‘ma’ now, haha :D. . . . And finally we were off to Swissotel Stamford :)!

Again, it was a big rush as there were several rehearsals to go through and meetings to attend. To make matters even more complicated, there were several last minute behind-the-scene hiccups which almost gave me a heart attack! Luckily though, I had the best team around to help me out:

1) The video montage didn’t work initially due to compatibility issues with my laptop! Fortunately, the wonderful Chris of Visio Workz, our videographer, was most prompt in attending to us and even sent a DVD player down all the way from her office! O must also praise the resourcefulness of Yang Yang and Jeffrey, my great 兄弟s, who managed to work around the compatibility issues and got the montage playing on the lappy!

2) As usual, seating arrangements were a major headache! Due to several last minute additional guests as well as friends who couldn’t make it at the last minute, my receptionists had to do plenty of juggling. Kudos to the wonderful team of Peiyun, Sufen, Yang Zi, Nicole and Desmond :)!

3) I actually only confirmed my sword bearers 2 weeks before the event, and it’s amazing how the guys managed to do such a great job despite the short notice! A special word of thanks to Uzi, Thorns, Hiszoid, Forex, Celtic, Tonguesten, Mimic, Bono, and not forgetting Bubble (for offering to rehearse as my ‘bride’ :D) and Fido (for the coordination!). You guys rocked!

4) Ningjia’s help as the bridesmaid was invaluable: I lost count of the times the poor girl had to scramble up and down from the suite to the lobby and ballroom to ensure our parents find their way and also to bring all the items needed for the wedding are in place. Haha, now that’s what I call a great FYP mate :)!

5) I couldn’t involve my childhood friends in the critical parts of the wedding preparation as they were either heavily involved in parenting (Yanxing), or partying (Evan). But when I needed their help the most, they didn’t definitely didn’t’ shy away: a big Thank You to Yanxing and Evan for helping me down the red wine :)!

6) Despite having little or no prior experience, Lucas and Peishan gave us a big ‘YES’ when we approached them to be our emcees for the evening! I am most thankful to them for the wonderful job they did, and also for not subjecting us to any embarrassing games during the dinner, heh ;)

7) Once again, to Lucas, my Best Man :)! The Man helped me in every aspect of the wedding, and despite suffering near heart-attacks as I did, still had the presence of mind to ensure everything was smoothly executed. I seriously have no idea what more I can ask for from such a great pal, especially after a ‘special gift’ that came from him, heh ;)

8) Besides being armed with the bestest Best Man and Team, we are also most thankful for having chose Swissotel Stamford because they provided us with the most wonderful coordinators :D! Kudos to Gladys, our wedding coordinator for being patient with all our enquiries and requests from Day One till our Big Day, and to Hai Tao, our wedding concierge, for ensuring that everything was running smooth on throughout the dinner :)!

9) Finally, to all the wonderful people who were there with us as we said ‘I Do’, and to you, for reading and supporting this blog and being with us as we chronicled our wedding journey :)

It’s been an incredible one-year preparation, and like what Flying Paper mentioned, I also feel a bit sad that the wedding has been completed! But looking into Flying Paper’s eyes, slipping our rings into each others’ fingers and exchanging our matrimonial vows, I know that we have so much more in our life to look forward to :). . . .

Our life has just began, we've finally found each other :). . . .

With Love,
Barneysaurus
Honeymoon at the land of the Rising Sun :)!

My feelings of My Big Day!!

2008-09-17T23:28:00.008+08:00

My Big Day is officially over on 14 Sept 2008. One year of planning has finally come to an end, a feeling of relief but a bit of sadness too as all the wedding preparations have been fun and exciting...

So what happened on 14 Sept 2008? Well, amazingly and surprisingly, I managed to fall asleep the night before and didn't feel nervous at all in the morning. I changed into my PJ and waited patiently for all the important people to arrive - my jie meis, my make-up artist (MUA), my photographer and videographer...

The real action started when Barney and his gang of brothers arrived for the gatecrush. I heard a lot of laughter and noises when I was in the bedroom. I really missed a lot of actions!! Must wait for the video already, haha...

I was actually quite calm when the groom finally made his way in.. but I also felt touched that Barney braved through all the "tortures" and tests to make his way to me...

The next exciting part was the outdoor shots! We took our shots at Bottle Tree Park, thankfully for the nice weather, we managed to take a lot of shots! The jie meis and brothers had managed to make the photos more lively and meaningful!!! Hee, can't wait for the photos to be out!!!

The tea ceremony began at around 11am at Barney's house, then my house.... After which, we headed to the hotel to have a short break. Rhys was really poor thing as he had only a short time to change into his uniform, and later he had to proceed to the ballroom to rehearse with the rest of the people - swordbearers, Emcees and receptionists. I only had to stay in my suite and waited for my MUA to arrive... haha... the bride had a easy time :P

I was really really nervous when it was time for the first march-in.. I gripped Rhys's hands real tightly and was afraid of tripping... When the first march-in song started playing, the door swung open after a short while and we were marching in!! I was told that I looked really nervous during the march-in and didn't really smile.. Aiyo, the photos won't look nice liao..

Rose petals were thrown and I saw many happy faces around.. hee... The solemnisation began and later the dinner started.. Overall, I had a wonderful wedding with the great help from our wedding concierge, Hao Tao! Till today, I still feel like my wedding just happened yesterday and everything was like a dream... I still can't believe that I'm married now!!!

My life has just began, I finally found someone.....

3 Things About Myself Part 1038

2008-09-13T22:29:00.004+08:00

Yes yes my dear readers, in less than 10 hours’ time, I will be on my way to Flying Paper’s place to receive her as my bride, and in less than 24 hours’ time, we will be exchanging vows as husband and wife :)…. It really feels surreal that just 1130 days ago, we have never spoken a word to each other! And now here we are, counting down to the last few hours before we get to say “I do :)”. . . .

You are probably puzzled by the title of this post. I mean, what in the world does “3 Things About Myself Part 1038” means??!?! Well, when I first started my courtship of Flying Paper, I started sending her emails on a daily basis to tell her more about myself. I have no idea how it happened, but I ended up writing all 1038 emails just like that! I think Flying Paper is amazing because she’s not bored to tears by my boring emails, haha :). . . .

So my dear readers, today I’m going to be selfish and dedicate this blog entry entirely to my dearest one and only one ok :)? Here it goes!

=================================================================================

My Dearest Yi Dian Ding Number One & Only One Super Duper Silly Little Choocooloo Sweet Sweet Fei Fei Lao Shi Oto Mushroom Head Ban Bao Bei :D!!!!

Haha, for today’s entry, I’m going to do a photo essay of ALL the events we went through in our wedding preparations :). . . . Are you ready :D? Here it goes :D!

Our wedding started from 11 September 2007, when I proposed to you and you said “ok, ok lah :D!”

We then started our hotel hunt, starting from Raffles. . . .

To Marina Mandarin :). . . .

To Amara Sanctuary :). . . .

To Traders :). . . .

To Goodwood Park :). . . .

Before we finally settled on Swissotel Stamford :D!!!!

. . . . Actually we selected Stamford way back in September, but we just couldn’t resist all the good food in bridal shows, haha :D. . . .

Come to think of it, we also selected Precious Moments as our bridal studio way back in September :)!

You were so excited when we went for the gown selections :). . . .

And we were even more gan cheong when the time came for the actual shoot :)!

Fortunately the shoot was so well done :). . . . So tiring, but we were so happy with the results :)!!!!

In the mean time, we went for our food tasting :). . . .

Selected our florist and wedding card invites :)!

Celebrated your birthday :). . . .

Celebrated Christmas :). . . .

And even ran a marathon :D!!!!

Before we know it, it was time for our Guo Da Li :). . . .

And our An Chuang :). . . .

And of course our ROM :). . . .

And I’m looking forward to the moment when I slip on my ring on you and yours on mine :)....

Bao bei, me may not be the most perfect person in the world, but me will always strive to be the best person for you yah :)? Just like what I promised on 11 September 2005, me is gonna 带一辈子的幸福给你 ok :)?

With Love,
Your Yi Da Ding Oto Pig :)!!!!
1 day more to the day when we say “I do” :). . . .

My last day as a Miss!

2008-09-13T21:38:00.004+08:00

Today is the last day as a Miss, tomorrow I'll become a Mrs already. So nervous!!

So what have I done today?

Well, I've started the morning doing my massage at my beauty salon. Hee....Then I went to wash my hair and lastly do my nails... keke... A day of pampering!!

Now, I'm typing this entry with butterflies in my stomach and I realise I still have quite a lot of stuff to do! Argh, gan cheong!!

Hope tomorrow will be a day with good weather and the wedding be a beautiful one!!! I'm still behaving like a kid but I'm getting married tomorrow! The feeling is so weird!!

Wonder what is Barney doing now?? hee hee.. gonna log off now, bye!!!!!!!!!!! =)

Our last date as boyfriend & girlfriend

2008-09-12T20:05:00.011+08:00

Today is Flying Paper's reporting time! Hee, due to traditions, we are not supposed to meet on the eve of the wedding so today is the last day of us meeting before the wedding!!

If you have followed our post, Barney confessed to me 3 years ago at Bishan Sakae Sushi. So today as our last date as boyfriend/girlfriend, we decide to go back to the same place to have lunch!

Us posing at the entrance!

This is the before and after photo of our meal.. haha

After our full meal, we decide to do something special for this special date.. So we went to this place at Bishan...

Colourful paint... guess what are we going to do?? haha

We are going to paint a picture all by ourselves. Hee, actually we have thought of doing this for a long time but a bit embarrassed as usually the customers there are kids. However, today there's fewer people and we decide to try it no matter what. So we choose a nice picture and start to get down to work.

Rhys seriously painting....

Almost done....

Here's the finished product!!

nice??

Just 2 more days to our Big Day. The next time I see Rhys will be this Sunday already!! So nervous!!! =D

Our An Chuang aka 安床 :D!!!!

2008-09-11T23:35:00.002+08:00

They always say time flies, and I totally agree with that statement! Exactly 3 years ago, I confessed my feelings to Flying Paper , and exactly a year ago, I proposed! (click here for Flying Paper’s account of my proposal :). . . . )

And now, we are just 3 days away from our Big Day :). . . . Time flies :D!

We held our An Chuang, aka安床 ceremony yesterday after months of advanced preparation! 安床, very much like the 过大礼, is a traditional Chinese wedding custom to bestow good luck and blessings for the newly-wed couple :). 安床 in particular, is to pave a life of good fortune for the couple, and also to bless the couple with cute little babies, haha :D. . . .

So what do you need for 安床 :)? Firstly, you need to get a new bed :)! Being the slob I am, I was originally toying with the idea of sticking to my smelly set of bed and pillows (they are still comparatively new at just 5 years old :D!), but decided to follow tradition and got a brand new bed after spending months hunting with my dearest Flying Paper :)! We also bought this really cute bridal quilt set from Bliss Collection to complete the look, haha :D. . . .

Here’s the bed before the start of the ceremony :)!

Haha, the eagle-eyed would have noticed our wedding portrait :D!!!! Instead of the more traditional big-assed portrait, Flying Paper and I opted for a more modern 3-in-1 portrait instead :)!

The next most important element for安床 is to find a person of exceptional good fortune to do up the bed for you :)! I was very honored and fortunate to have my 2nd Auntie and her hubby to help me out for this task, because they are probably the folks with the best fortune I know :D!

At the same time, I was also feeling very paiseh because they had to sweat it out to get the job done, haha :D. . . . Here are the pictures of them in action :)!

Firstly, setting the bed sheet. . . .

The laying of quilt, pillows and bolster :)!

The finishing touches: adding the quilt runner and the ‘Fate coins’ at the corners of the bed :). . . .

And of course, the laying of the lucky items which includes the oranges, the ‘fa’ cake, longans and other auspicious items :)!

The completed bed after the安床 ceremony :)!

Once again, a big thank you to my 2nd Auntie and Uncle for generously sparing us their time and effort :)!!!! Now all I need are my nephews to roll around on the bed on my wedding day to bless us with cute babies, muahahaha :D. . . . Anyway, since Flying Paper couldn’t be around for the 安床 as she was working, I shall end this post with a picture of us at a recent dinner, courtesy of my Best Man, Lucas :D!

If you need a good photographer, just let me know and I’ll pass you his contacts, haha :D. . . . Do check back this blog on the eve of our Big Day for a special Double Post :D! See ya :D!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus
3 more days to our Big Day :)!

Our ROM :D!!!!

2008-09-10T14:34:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

Today, I have this earth-shattering news that I need to tell everyone: Flying Paper and I can’t wait any further, and have decided to get married earlier :D!!!!

Muahaha, just kidding :D! Our Big Day is still scheduled on 14 Sept, but we were at ROM yesterday to do our Statutory Declaration and collect our Certificate of Marriage :)! Usually people go to the Registry of Marriage to solemnize their marriage, but it’s a little bit different for us because we are holding the solemnization during our wedding dinner itself :)! For that to be possible, we sourced for our own Justice of Peace, and also pre-collected the documents for him to sign during the dinner :)

The crowd at ROM in the morning (can you spot a familiar face in the picture :)????):

We had to prepare a consent form that was signed by our JP and also bring along our witnesses and our ICs for verification :D!

I was so nervous the night before I had difficulty falling asleep again :D! Hope the eye-bags won’t show up during our Big Day :D!

And finally it was our turn for the Statutory Declaration :D! I even took a video of Flying Paper to serve as evidence, keke :). . . .

By the way, the registrar said I looked very familiar when we went over to his counter :D! Flying Paper immediately pulled my ears and asked if I got bring girls to ROM before, haha :D. . . . Of course not hor :D! I am very good boy one :D! Muahaha :D. . . .

Although it was a very short event, the ceremony was very special to me because after accompanying my friends to their ROM so many times, it was finally my turn with the love of my love :). . . . Oh man, I think I will definitely have trouble falling asleep the night before my Big Day :D!

Keke, next up will be a post of our 安床 ceremony :D! Stayed tuned :D!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus
4 more days to Our Big day :)!

Our Guo Da Li aka 过大礼:D!!!!

2008-09-01T12:54:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!! Today, your friendly wedding reporter will bring you the full coverage of our Guo Da Li :D!!!!

Now what exactly is Guo Da Li, aka 过大礼? Frankly speaking I had no idea what was it about until the run-up to the wedding, haha :D. . . . It’s actually a traditional Chinese custom where the two families exchange bridal items to symbolize their blessings for the couple and also for good luck (I think :D!) :)! Our families actually discussed the items to be exchanged a few months back when I formally requested for Flying Paper’s hand in marriage (so traditional wor :D!), and so armed with my ‘matchmaker’ (my cousin actually :D!), I went forth with the bridal gifts yesterday :)!

The first up are the items from Barneysaurus’ side :):

It includes the very important Dragon and Phoenix candles (symbolizes the couple :)!), oranges, wine, and of course the very important dowry :)!!!! We also had a special ang pow for changing diapers (symbolizes birth and babies for the couple :D!), and also another ang pow to replace the traditional pig trotters :)

Next up are the bridal cakes :D!!!!

Again, it’s a tradition to give bridal cakes to the bride’s family, who will then distribute the cakes to their relatives to inform them of their daughter’s marriage :)! Actually nowadays a lot of couples opt for cake vouchers instead, but we couldn’t help getting the bridal cake package from Prima Deli because they are just so cute :D!!!!

A kid is also part of the bridal gift exchange:

Haha, just kidding, that’s Flying Paper’s very cute niece :D!!!!

Our families going through the items :)

And of course must take a very happy group shot :)!

The items given by the bride’s family :)!

And a whole lot more :D!!!!

Trust me there’s a lot of items to be brought by the bride’s family :D! It includes a tea set for the tea ceremony, the bridal lamps, bridal quilt, bridal bedsheet, even a bridal basin to bathe our kids in next time :D!!!!

Now I’m getting worried because I had difficulty falling asleep the night before our Guo Da Li because I was too excited (I usually fall asleep within minutes!)! Hope I can fall asleep easier the night before our Big Day because I’m scared of getting dark eye rings, haha :)….

Less than two weeks to go before our Big Day, can’t wait for the day for us to begin the rest of our lives together forever :). . . .

With Love,
Barneysaurus :)!

Our Wedding Preparations :D!!!!

2008-08-24T22:12:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!! Yes yes, after 3 straight posts by Flying Paper, today’s finally my turn to give you an update on our wedding preparations :D! And my goodness, there’s a lot of things to update indeed ;)….

The first up is our wedding cards :D! Our adventure began way back in July when we visited the printers, and you can see here that Flying Paper is very focused on the task ;)

Not to be outdone, I was very serious too :D! Here’s the proof, haha :D….

Eh, sorry wrong picture, here’s the real one, haha :D….

We've also went for our eagerly awaited food tasting session at Swissotel Stamford :D!!!!

As we don’t want to reveal everything, here’s a quick picture to keep you guiys in suspense, keke :)….

As you can see, the above preparations takes a lot of hard work wor :D! Of course, I have to make sure that my dearest Flying Paper gets enough nutrients :)!!!! A typical preparation day usually starts with a full breakfast:

Followed by a full lunch. . . .

Followed by tea. . . .

And of course a full dinner :)!!!!

I almost forgot about the desserts :D!!!!

In other news, I am very, very worried because of reasons unknown to me, I’ve gained 3kg over the past two months! I wonder how the extra kgs came about sia, haha :D. . . . I simply love munching munching with my silly little Flying Paper :)!!!!

This is Barneysaurus, your friendly wedding reporter signing out :)!

With Love,
Barneysaurus
3 more weeks to our Big Day :D!!!!

Our Guestbook!

2008-08-16T14:33:00.004+08:00

As the date comes closer, we have quite a lot of loose ends to tie to make sure everything is nice nice, keke. Right now, we are in the midst of settling guest list, seating arrangement and our photo montage...

In order to add a special touch to our wedding, we have customised our guest book from an online website! We think it would be really great and nice to read all the well wishes from our guests after the event is over. We are really pleased with our guest book, hee.

So friends, remember to leave your message when you come to our wedding ya =)

Our Honeymoon is settled!

2008-08-08T22:37:00.008+08:00

Yeah, we finally settle our Honeymoon! Since we started dating, we two haven't been out on tour before...Our graduation trip was to Sentosa, our second year was also to Sentosa!! So this time, we are really excited about our Honeymoon!! Yeah, our first trip overseas on a plane!!!

Our Honeymoon destination is.... JAPAN!

I want to go to Japan's Disneyland!!! Yeah yeah!! We will be going on Hongtai's 7 days tour, then hopefully we can manage to secure 5 days extension at Tokyo.. Rhys will be in charge of our free and easy but I'm kinda worried as he is well known as a person who gets lost easily (same as me)!! When I saw the Tokyo's subway system, it's so confusing!! So many lines and colours... The map of Tokyo also looks confusing, I hate looking at maps and planning the routes, so Barney has a huge responsibility!! Haha, hope we won't get lost there *cross fingers*

Our wedding photos!!

2008-07-20T22:08:00.011+08:00

Today we went down to Precious Moments to view the layout of our album. So exciting!! We have been wanting to view the design of our album for sooooo long!!

Jack, the designer showed us the layout he did... For our album, it's supposed to be 50% design, 50% full page, with a total page of 46.. However, the designer was very nice, he designed more than 50%, so our album, so when we viewed the layout, we were happily surprised!

His design was very nice!! Love them! Hee, we will get our album in 2 weeks time, can't wait!!

We have a total of 48 photos and I have more individual photos than Barney!! Oops :P, no choice cos the photographer took more of my individual photos.. haha.. Barney only has 3 individual photos so from Jack's design, you can see most of the designed page is bride-focused! But I think most bridal album is bride-focused so too bad to the groom :P

As we have gotten the soft copy of the photos, we will post some of our favourite photos!! Hope you find them nice too... hee..

This pic is Barney's favourite photo of himself. Although I think I dun look nice here, I'll post here to let Barney admire himself.. hahaha

Our Wedding Bands Search :D!!!!

2008-07-08T14:39:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone :)!!!!

Today, your friendly wedding reporter will bring you the full coverage of the wedding band hunting process of Flying Paper and Barneysaurus :D!!!!

To be frank, finding that perfect pair of wedding bands is not an easy task. Not only do you have to consider a whole list of variables, you also have to find a design that is pleasing to both parties! Here’s some of the stuff we considered while ring-shopping:

- I initially proposed yellow gold and jade to Flying Paper, and she very nearly rewarded me with a choke-slam :D! So I reckon these two materials are not exactly popular with girls of modern times ;)

- Silver is also not an ideal material as it tarnishes really easily and fast. While they may be fine for couple rings, I seriously wouldn’t recommend silver for wedding bands because after all, they are meant to be worn for a lifetime ;)

- I was seriously thinking about titanium, one of the toughest and lightest materials in the world! But I realized it’s near to impossible to find a pair in any brick-and-mortar shop here in Singapore. The hardness also work to its disadvantage as it’s difficult to re-size and re-polish, and unless it’s been through special coating process, is prone to scratches too. So that meant a no-go for titanium too.

- That leaves us with white gold and platinum! White gold is one of the most popular choices for wedding bands and proposal rings, due to the fact that designers can get more creative with it as the material’s more malleable. Of all the jewelers we went to during our hunt, almost all of those fancy designs were only available in white gold! Platinum on the other hand, is not as usually seen due to its toughness and rarity, which accounts for its relatively higher price.

- Besides material, the other important consideration is whether if you want any precious stones with your rings! The rage with girls nowadays seems to be as many bling bling on the ring as possible, such as a diamond full-clustered, which is very bad news for us guys because they can cost even more than the uber-expensive proposal ring :D! Some guys are also getting into this diamond trend, but I’m the more conservative type lah, haha :D....

- Finally, the design is another major consideration in getting proposal rings. It goes from the simplest plain wedding band with zero design to the very elaborate and complex designs such as the Possession rotating ring from Piaget or the Trinity from Cartier. Our local jewelers also offer a huge range of very beautiful collections from overseas designers :)

Having said the above, the most important thing about wedding bands (and proposal rings for that matter), is not about how beautiful/expensive/exclusive the rings are, but rather who you are giving/getting the ring from :)

After a long and hard search, Flying Paper and I finally decided on a pair of platinum bands in the classic plain design (ie no design at all, haha :D....). We paid for each other’s ring as a gift to each other, and I was so happy because ~~my ring is more expensive than hers, keke :)~~ I think that really adds to the significance of our matrimonial promises :)....

Looking forward to the moment when I slip on my ring on you and yours on mine :)....

This is Barneysaurus, your friendly wedding report signing out :)! Stand by for more updates to come :)!

With Love,
Barneysaurus

Wedding Show at Goodwood Park :D!!!!

2008-06-23T13:24:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone, this is Barneysaurus, your friendly wedding reporter reporting for work again :)!!!! Today, we bring you the exclusive coverage of the wedding show held at Goodwood Park Hotel :)!!!!

As expected, there was a huge crowd. . . .

Check out the display-only chocolate wedding cake :D! I almost wanted to take a bite but Flying Paper stopped me before the security guards dragged me out ;). . . .

Again, I wanted to take a bite at the display-only banquet feast but fortunately Flying Paper managed to stop me in time again :). . . .

But being the greedy pig I am, I finally managed to wrestle a plate of food in the end :D!!!! As you can see I was very happy :)

But Flying Paper managed to snatch the food away from me while shouting “THE FOOD IS MINE :D!!!!”

After we finally calmed our stomachs, we reverted back to the normal, peace-loving couple we usually are and went about exploring the hotel :)!

We were especially interested in the wedding themes because we just confirmed ours last week, and was so happy to see a similar gold-red combi at Goodwood Park!

Of course, no wedding shows are complete without a fashion show:

But the item that we were most interested in were the wedding cars :D!!!! As you can see, Flying Paper and I were all ready to drive away the SLK ;). . . .

But since both of us have no idea how to drive, we decided to book the chauffeur-driven Chrysler instead :D!!!!

We were really happy to have settled our bridal car (do check out weddingcars.sg!), and was even happier because we received a free novelty ‘Just Married’ car plate which we will be customizing with our names and wedding date :)!!!!

It’s was a very successful wedding show outing, and we look forward to give you the latest and most updated reports of the wedding of Flying Paper and Barneysaurus :)! Stay tuned folks :)!!!!

2 months and 22 days to the Big Day :D!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus

Hotel theme settled!!

2008-06-14T22:28:00.006+08:00

Today Barney and I went to settle our hotel theme with one of the florist - Impact! We saw a theme that we liked during the wedding show and it was from Impact, thus we decided to go there to take a look. =)

The place was quite ulu, and the office was in an industral building, so imagine Barney's reaction when he reached the corridor at level 4 (Impact's level).

However, the office was nice and cozy and immediately, the table displaying the wedding favors caught our eyes!

We chose a really nice one (but dun tell u guys now so that it'll be a surprise!!). It will come in a box and it comes in a set of different designs so the guests won't know what design he/she gets! Hee, just like opening a present huh... keke...

Next, we discussed our hotel theme in details from Florence. From the stage, to the VIP table setting, to the centrepiece, to the guest tables, to the reception table and the aisle deco! So exciting and we can visualize the nice nice deco already...

If you still remember, we saw the theme "Euphoric Romance" that we liked.

However, as my evening gown was pink, we decided not to go with pink theme for the ballroom. The design will remain the same but the colors will change. In the end, we go with a red/gold theme!!! The main flowers will be red in color and the drapes on stage will be in gold!

Hope the guests will have a pleasant surprise when they enter our ballroom during our wedding!! 3 more months!!!

The Making of a Birthday Gift :)!

2008-05-29T00:18:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

Getting a birthday gift is never an easy task, especially when you are selecting a gift for someone who is very, very special to you :)! I was seriously racking my brains for a good gift for Flying Paper's 23rd Birthday when I chanced upon this place while shopping at Funan Centre:

TommyPrint is a local print company that provides printing services for business cards, flyers and even stickers, all professionally done at very reasonable prices. The service that got me really interested is their photobooks.

The background: Flying Paper and I have taken over a thousand photos over our courtship, and even though we did developed a bunch of them, we never got down to arrange them in photo albums because we are usually tied up with our Wii, haha :D…. I thought it will be a great idea if I create a photobook that captures all our precious memories, and thus secretly started work on a photobook around 2 months back :)!

The photobook is created using a Mac application, and it was difficult for me because I had very limited experience with a Mac. Fortunately though, the TommyPrint guys were very patient in showing me the ropes, and in no time I was happily creating my photobook like a pro :D!

I opted for 80 pages in the photobook, and trust me it was not easy trying to fit a thousand pictures into that 80 pages. I had to do an elimination process to decide which picture to go into the book, and it was quite painful to leave out some pictures because all of them are memorable, haha :D….

Ok ok, it’s time to let the pictures do the talking! Presenting to you, the cover :D!

The picture was taken during Flying Paper’s 21st Birthday celebration :D! Haha, really amazed that 2 years have passed already :P! By the way, not only can you customize the title of the photobook, you can do the same thing for the spine too!

This being a book, it must come with an introduction of course ;). . . .

The contents :D!!!!

And the sexy back ;)

For more pictures and Flying Paper’s blog entry on how we celebrated her very special day, click
here :)!

To be frank, it was really not an easy task doing up the photobook. I initially thought I only need to spend 2 hours to complete the photobook, but I ended up spending several sessions at TommyPrint before I was finally satisfied with my work. My shoulders and butt complained like mad after spending hours in front of the Mac, but at the end of it, I think it was worth every ache ;). . . . In fact, I’m looking forward to making Volume II, III, and so many subsequent Volumes with the most important person in my life :). . . .

Your wedding reporter shall sign off for now, see ya next time :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus :)

Our Photo Shoot: Behind-The-Scenes Details :)!!!!

2008-05-11T11:58:00.002+08:00

Hello everybody :D!!!!

Today, your friendly wedding reporter should take time off his very very busy and unhealthy schedule (4 McDinners in a row, no joke :P!) to bring you an exclusive feature: The Behind-The-Scenes details of the photo shoot of Flying Paper and Barneysaurus :D!!!!

Being the very ~~kiasu~~ punctual couple that we are, we actually arrived at the studio almost half an hour earlier :D! The following is the secret shot of Flying Paper when she was getting sian from waiting, muahaha :D!!!!

(I am so dead for posting the above picture, muahahaha :D!!!!)

Very ~~unfortunately~~ fortunately for Flying Paper, I was there to entertain her with lots of lame jokes, and she happily responded by pulling my ears :). . . . A while later, Vivi, our make-up artist, and Jason, the photographer from Precious Moment Bridal arrived :)! Both of them were really friendly and professional, and made the two of us really comfortable for the photo shoot :)!

I was really tensed when I got made-up because I was scared that I will end up looking weird, but fortunately Vivi knows that she’s doing! But she had to keep reapplying the powder on me throughout the shoot because my face is one of the major producers of oil in the world, haha :). . . . My dearest Flying Paper had no such problems though :)!

The indoor shoot was very straight-forward, but the outdoor shoot was quite challenging for a few reasons :D!

1) I went to collect our pre-ordered balloons at Raffles City for the shoot, and trust me, it’s a really weird feeling carrying a whole bunch of balloons in a crowded shopping centre :D!

2) We were actually trespassing when we took our pictures at St Teresa’s :P! We wanted to take some shots there as it was a really very beautiful church, and Jason told us it’s gonna be a touch-and-go thingy because we don’t have permission, haha…. It was a lucky thing nobody chased us out mid-way :D! Thanks thanks :)!!!!

3) Botanic Gardens has got to be like one of the hottest place for photo shoots. I say it’s the hottest because there were like at least 4 other couples there for photo shoots too, and also because it was very, very hot that day, haha :D. . . .

4) The stretch along Fullerton is one of the hottest spots for night shoots! I say this because I lost count of the number of couples who were there for photo shoots too, and also because it was very, very hot that evening, muahaha :D!!!!

Even though it was very hot for the entire day, we were really thankful for the wonderful weather with the azure-blue skies and fluffy white clouds, heh ;). . . . And an addition word of thanks to Vivi for beautifying the two of us, and of course Jason for all the stunts he had to pull (crawling in the grass, laying on the hot tarmac, helping us trespass places :D!) in order to give us some very beautiful pictures :)!

Although it was a very busy day, Flying Paper and I will remember this day for the rest of our lives :). . . . Can’t wait to collect our album :D!!!!

This is your friendly wedding reporter signing off, Happy Mothers' day and see ya soon :)!!!!

With Love,
Barneysaurus

Photoshoot Day!

2008-04-29T22:15:00.005+08:00

25th April was a big event in our wedding preparations as it's our Photoshoot Day!! We were really excited on that day and we arrived real early on that day... Half an hour earlier.. In the end, we ended up waiting outside the studio.. haha

Barney happily posing!

Our MUA finally arrived at around 10.10 and we started our make-up session, hee...

Me before the make-up... hee

The make-up was nicer than the trial one but I still found it heavy.. haha... I put on fake eyelashes too, made my eyes bigger! Nice! hee... Even Barney couldn't escape the hands of my MUA, and he put on some powder and even lip gloss too.. hahahaha....

He looked like he's being tortured..haha

My first image was the Chinese traditional Kua!

Our initial stage of phototaking was not very natural cos we two were like two wooden blocks.. haha.. the photographer took some time to ask us to relax and be more natural.. You know, some poses he demanded of me were quite weird for me cos I dun usually pose that way... Barney always ended up laughing at one side when the photographer was taking my individual shoot...

I remembered him commenting that I needed more exercise lor, hinting that I'm inflexible!!! Bish!!!!!! The comments I heard most from my photographer was: "Head lower, Chin up, straighten back, Stick up ur chest and butt..." Haha...

We also took some shoots at the rooftop and the photographer showed us a few shots he took and I loved some of the pictures he showed us.. nice nice.. hee... But later, when it came to my pink evening gown, my MUA gave me a permed hair look which I thought looked old and mature, and made my face big! haha, but I hope the photos will turn out nice ba, if not I can select only a few of the pink evening gown shot :(

Later around 4pm, we finally went outdoor... Thankfully, that day was a fine day as the weather was nice....We went to Botanic Gardens first, followed by St Teresa Church, Fort Canning and finally the area around Fullerton for night shot... I think the most funny memory when we took our photos was when the photographer requested Barney to carry me.. I dun really like to be carried cos I always feel insecure and will fall lor...Haha, I struggled and screamed quite a lot when Rhys was trying to carry me.. hahaha

With my outdoor gown, altogether I had 5 outfits which meant I had 5 different looks! The one I like least is the permed hair one and the one I like most is my actual wedding gown look.. keke...

I got a tiara on my head!! hee..

Now we are waiting excitedly for photo selection. Our package only includes 38 photos.. Topping up of photos will be expensive cos one photo each will cost around $55 lor!! Barney keeps telling me to practise self control and dun anyhow choose photos..

But if the photos are nice, can't help it right? Mmm, see how first la..keke...

Trial Make-Up

2008-04-20T21:52:00.005+08:00

Our photoshoot is on 25th April and today we went down to Precious Moments to have our trial make-up and final gown fitting!!

We went down today excitedly since I haven't seen my gowns for 2 months plus already! Rhys was equally anxious as he had tailor-made a suit from them and hadn't seen it yet too, haha.

My make-up artist, Vivi was a friendly bubbly gal and during the make-up process, she told me what to expect from the make-up. As the make-up process continued, I slowly transformed into a "weird" person! Haha, maybe it's because I hardly put on make-up, the make-up Vivi put for me was considered quite heavy for me... Couldn't accept it initially but Vivi assured me that under the spotlight and camera, I'll look natural.. hee...

Later on, was the gown-fitting session. This time, all gowns had been altered already so I fitted into the gowns easily! As I tried out those gowns, I started to feel excited again cos the gowns were pretty pretty. I really hope the final effect for my photos will be really nice! haha..

Barney was also pleased with his fitting... When he came out of the dressing room, the staff there all commented that he looked handsome and smart! haha, Rhys was so happy lor!! But indeed, he looked dashing!! hee...

As I did not have trial hairstyle so I found that my look wasn't complete! My face looked big lor so in order to not to scare u guys, I just post this picture first.. haha....My Actual Day wedding gown!! It's really heavy and it could stand on its own!! hope I'll be able to walk around freely with that gown on.. haha

Nice?? hee...

Now I'm hoping for good weather on 25th April and good skin too, recently, I've been popping pimples :(

Hope my arms and face won't look so chubby on photos too! :( hee...

Wedding Show Report at Swissotel Stamford :D!!!!

2008-04-14T23:10:00.002+08:00

Hello Everyone :D!!!!

Yes yes, this is Barneysaurus, your friendly wedding show reporter reporting for work again :D! This is a very special edition because today, we’ll be covering the hotel where Flying Paper and I will be holding our wedding banquet: Swissotel Stamford :D!!!!

Now the two of us have been to several wedding shows already, but this wedding show was really HUGE! Judging purely from the lucky draw tickets, there must be like at least more than 500 couples that afternoon! Everyone was in a hurry, as you can see from the following pic: They moved so fast I can only see a blur :D!

Haha, ok lah ok lah, the photos were blur because of my not-so-fantastic digicam, but don’t need to worry about that because I’m sure my wonderful wifey-to-be will be nice and sponsor me a fantastic sparkling beautiful new digicam, muahaha :D!!!! *Anticipates my ears getting pinched :P*

The show was hosted by Daniel Ong and his wifey-to-be Jaime Teo:

The amazing thing was that they were actually getting married in the same ballroom that very evening! We think they very powerful because we will be so gan cheong on our wedding day, haha :D…. Anyway, a wedding show is never complete without a bridal show:

The scary thing was that there actually paraded one hundred bridal gowns that afternoon, and at the end of it I was truly getting really scared of bridal gowns! Luckily though, they had a great buffet to make up for it, and cheapo me was happily helping myself to several servings of their sinfully delicious chocolate cake, which I unfortunately forgot to snap pictures of :(.... I think I am getting hungry now :P

Food, however, was not the main attraction for Flying Paper and me yesterday, but rather the wedding themes, which we will be selecting soon :)! We saw the black and red décor, which was very nice but a bit dark:

We also saw the floral type. Which was very floral :)

It was so floral, I just have to take a picture of Flying Paper posing sweetly next to it, because she is as pretty as a flower :)

SO SO SO SWEET :D!!!! Keke :P…..

Our fav was the lavender-inspired one which we hope will be available during our wedding :)!

Regardless of the theme, we will be having the nice nice ice sculpture at the private foyer though :D!

There was this lucky draw at the end of the show, and we sibeh anti-climax because we missed the presidential suite stay by just one digit, argh :D!!!! Then after that came the super duper big prize with Lee Hwa jewelry and bridal gowns and suits, and again we were so gan cheong when Daniel Ong announced “Yio. . . .” but end off with another name, muahaha :D! But it was very fun lah, keke :)….

We also took several shots of the menu items that night, which I shall only reveal during my wedding reporter report during the food tasting come July, so stay tuned :)! This is Barneysaurus, your friend wedding reporter signing off :)!

With Love,
Barneysaurus

Shopping Trip for the Groom :)!!

2008-03-31T17:13:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone :D!!!!

It’s gonna be April in just a few hours’ time, and I am getting anxious because Flying Paper will be ‘torturing’ me once April starts :P! You see, we are having our photo shoot at the end of April, and she has decided that we will not be eating any ~~delicious~~ sinful food in April :(. . . . Omigod I have no idea how am I going to survive without KFC for one whole month :D!

Anyway, I am getting as gan cheong as her ;). . . . In fact, the focus of our shopping trips for the past few weeks has been on me :D! Let me share my buys with everyone today :)

The first is the tuxedo shirt :D!

Frankly speaking, I had no idea there were shirts with wing-tipped collars until I flipped through the pages of those bridal magazines! So expensive, haha :D. . . . But because I am trying my best to look hamsen next to my beautiful bride, have to part with the money lor, haha :P. . . .

The next is the cravat :D!

Again, I had no idea there was such a thing in the world before our wedding prep :D! You mean there are more than one type of ties?!?!? Haha, yes yes, I am very suaku :) Anyway, I managed to get this very nice looking cravat only because of the efforts of the very wonderful Flying Paper :)! I was originally going to settle for a ugly white one because it was on the top of the display, but the dear girl actually went through every single cravat set under the display so we can find the prettiest one :D! It was really quite a funny scene at Tangs, and I was very touched :). . . .

I think I shall reward her with a nice 3-piece meal for her efforts :D! Muahaha :D. . . .

Next up is the hankie :D! I think the pocket handkerchief is probably the most ‘extra’ item in the groom’s suit. It’s just there for display, meaning I can’t use it to wipe my mouth after munching on the very delicious Deep-fried-Deboned-Chicken-Stuffed-With-Minced-Prawns-Served-With-Mayonnaise (Item #04 for our dinner menu :D!). So you can imagine my horror when the sales assistant told me that the tiny piece of cloth that caught my fancy at Taka cost $99 :P!

Luckily for me, my very clever wife-to-be convinced me to try enquiring at the tailors at Far East Plaza, which I had reservations about because I thought they ~~only con rich tourists of their money~~ charge a lot. I’m happy to state here that I was wrong :D! We met this friendly uncle who sold me this silver satin handkerchief for $8 only :D!

We continued our search in Far East Plaza because I still needed a pair of cufflinks. Again, I thought cufflinks are very ‘extra’ because, well, buttons were invented for a reason :D! Anyway, being the stingy-poke I am, I was dismayed to discover that almost everyone was selling a pair of cufflinks in excess of $30. So we were very, very happy when we met this kindly old uncle who was offering his collection for only $12 :D!

Very happy we had a fruitful shipping trip, and even happier because the shopping trip was done with her :). . . . Haha, see you all in the next entry of The Wedding Blog of Flying Paper & Barneysaurus ah :D!

With Love,
Barneysaurus