Our Indonesian Wedding, June 26th, 2011

June 26th, 2011, the date we've been waiting since last year, is our final wedding reception day.
We were very lucky as all the preparation has been done by my parents. Venue, food, salon, etc. We just need to dress up and show up with our biggest smile and enjoy the day.

The day started pretty late,My mom and I went to pick up Fiona (my best friend who came all the way from Malaysia with her fiance, Alvin, to be my bridesmaid) around 10.30am, then we head to May May Salon in Kelapa Gading Mal to get hair and make up done.

We made appointment to get the make up and hair do for party, a package which costs about $50/person. So there we go, getting our make up and hair done. Once my hair is done, I asked the person who did my hair to put a big white hair accessories which I will wear for the wedding. The manager of the salon saw it, and seems to be fuming. She start to take pictures of my hair piece (without my consent), and few minutes after that she talked to me and mom (who was waiting for fiona to get her hair done)
She said : "Excuse me, I show ur hair piece pic to my boss (through blackberry messenger), and my boss said that this counts as engagement make up, and thus the cost will be $250."
Me: "Are you serious, just because of this hair piece and it will be $250 instead of $50??"
"Yes, because its become different, you know. The make up is different, and you are counted as engagement make up."
"Which part of the make up is different, may I ask? My make up is totally the same with my mom and Fiona, and the only thing different is because I have this hair piece with me, and it's white. If it's not white, will you do the same to me?"
"Please don't put me in a bad position, my boss will yell at me if I didn't charge you with the engagement make up." ---> bad position my ass, she is the one who put herself in a bad position, because she has a big mouth and share my pics with her boss.
"So, the problem you boss is having is on this hair piece, right? This is what caused her to charge me extra $200 for 5 pieces of hair clip you used to attach this thing on my head, right?"
"Yes."
"Fine, then just take it off. I don't care that much. If this is the problem, you should just take it off. I am not going to pay extra $200 just to have it on my hair by you. But do it properly, I don't want you to ruin my hair do, because it is on the package already."

So, in the end I sat again and the person who did my hair took the hair piece off my hair, but I managed to ask for the hair pin to be brought home. He felt so bad, he kept on apologizing. I told him it's ok, as it was his manager craziness, not him.

I was really intended to make her more fuming (I was upset, but I wasn't in a bad mood), so after my mom paid the bill and everything, and she starts to walk away with Fiona, I walked to the manager (who is still fuming at me), and give her a big HUG and a pat on her shoulder. Reverse psychology, understand? Instead of yelling at her (which she expected me to do), I hugged her. So she can't yell at me (I hugged her for god sake!), but yet more angry inside! She can't rule my world with her anger, instead I ruled her, with my hugs.

My dad picked us up, then we all went to the apartment where Bill and Alvin (and the photographers) are waiting. The photographers are from Latreia photography, they are nice and fun people. We hang out for a while, before I put on my dress.

The dress was made a year ago, based on a model I found on a magazine, and I really loved. I made it at Melia Emmy, in Jakarta. And I only have 2 fittings on the dress when it was still really plain. I was very pleased with the end result. It was really simple yet very beautiful.

With my hand bouquet

I put on the hair piece on my own, but I also asked my cousins to bring some more of hairpins just in case I will need more (which I did, she put so much more to keep it stay in place). Some pictures are taken, then we went to the reception place, by that time (around 5pm), I was so tired and got a little bit cranky (very obvious)

some pics and us at the entrance door :p

We did some general rehearsal, and guests are start coming, and the wedding started. The wedding entrance song was Canon in D, as our original song on CD (Shower the People by James Taylor) can't be played (sad). We did all the process (cut the cake, wedding kiss, wedding toast), stand on the stage to shake hand with the guests, which caused me almost have a face cramp from too much smiling.
I was so excited because a lot of my friends are coming. I talked with people, took some pictures, and basically had a great time. Bill seems to have a great time as well.

We had a lot of fun, and in the end I was so tired, I just sat on the floor.

The wedding toast

All photos are courtesy of LATREIA photography.

Back at home

This trip to Indonesia is the 1st trip for Bill & I to be on the plane for such a longg time. It took us 17 hours on airplane, plus 4 hrs transit to get to Indonesia. We were lucky that the middle seat in between us was empty, which really help us to get a good sleep (space is a big deal when u fly that long).



Husband & I, Sea-Tac Airport

I also bought my 1st 42" ugly doll, which I brought to the plane as my pillow. That was comfortable, not to mention cute! He will be the pillow for our couch, as I always wanted since few years back.

Ugly looks funny here, as if I strangle him to death 
Purse filled with the essentials
My dad wait for us in the airport. The whole process with the immigration for Bill went smoothly, only took a little bit long to wAit for our luggage (we brought 4 big bags!)
The drive home was fine, and it was good to be home. Greeted by my mom, met my nephew for the 1st time (he is pretty cute), ate my mom delicious home made food, and Bill got massage right away.

Happy!

Yay!

Remember my blog post here ?
Well, yesterday we found out that we get the house !!!
Means we will sign the contract this Sunday, and officially moving out by the time we came back from Indonesia!!!

We were so happy, even though we will have lots of expenses through the summer (buying furnitures and all).

Pictures coming up on Sunday (hopefully)

Thank you for all the good luck wishes !

Old picture in a band

My friend, Astrida found old pictures from Junior High, and scanned it.
I got tagged, and it is a picture of me (and some other people) in a band ! Playing BASS !!!

I don't even remember playing that day. I still remember wearing the outfit, but not remember being on the stage play music.
It was our junior high's farewell party, where we stay in the school all night.
It was fun.
The skinny guy on the blue shirt was my ex boyfriend, Adit, whom I dated for 1,5 years.
And actually we're going to have a wedding reception on the same day! What a coincidence!

I remember wearing those jeans which previously belong to my dad, modified with some appliques, black spyderbilt t-shirt (was my fave t-shirt), basketball shoes, and a long sleeves shirt belong to him.

I am excited!

On June 24th - 27th, 

I will get to see this girl :

My BEST friend FIONA will be my bridesmaid for the wedding reception in Jakarta.

I knew her when I was studying Mandarin Chinese in Beijing back in 2007. She was my class mates, we went study and shopping together.

She has a super positive attitude, very polite, and considerate, also cheerful, which are the reasons I love being with her. Her only flaw is that she live too far away from me (or me being far away from her :p)

I only known her for about 5-6 months before the semester ended, and she went back to her hometown in Malaysia, while I moved to Shanghai. But we kept in touch.

It wasn't till July 2010 I flew to Malaysia with my mom, and get to spend few days with her.

I love her and I really can't wait to see her....

If you see this pretty girl on my wedding day, she is my best friend!

Still waiting....

We are still waiting for a phone call from the landlord.
We texted him yesterday, asking if he needs some more paper work.
He said he will get in touch with us this week.
So yeah, we are still waiting.
And every once in a while, we say to each other "I hope we will get the place."

We are so in love with the place.
We even start to decorate the place in our imagination (even though Bill restrain the thought better than me)

We are still crossing our fingers.

Wish us luck.

HOPE

I am crossing my fingers....
We looked into a Mother in Law suite near Columbia City yesterday, and we BOTH fall in love with the place. We have agreed on his terms which will have us to move next week, and have the house empty for at least a month when we are back in Indonesia (means 1 month of rent is wasted), and we gave the owner some cash so he could run a credit check on us.
So it's really depends on him. Whether he will choose us or not.

It was a really small place, being only 650sq foot (60 meter square), but oh its so cozy!
The grassed yard are fully fenced, so it is really dog friendly, and I can't wait to see Muffin laying around in the sun while we do our homework.
It has two beds to plant vegetables so we can try to grow our own veggies.
I imagine us having a bbq party in this yard.

The wall was yellow, with a green window trim, and a red entrance door (I always wanted a red door!!)
Once inside, it is the living room, pretty small, probably the size of my bedroom in Indonesia, with washer and dryer stacked in a little closet behind the opened door. The living room was really bright in the sunny day, having windows on both sides of the wall.

From the living room you could walk to the kitchen, really small, which will make the place really crowded if there were more than two people at the same time.But it was really bright as there is a window to let the sunshine came in. Kitchen appliances are all white, which is a smart choice for a little space, to make the room looks bigger. Refrigerator, dishwasher, and 4 burner electric stove and oven, and a microwave as well. The kitchen cabinets are pretty and the cabinet door was made by a see-through glass.

Bathroom door and bedroom door are all connected to the kitchen.

It was a cute little bathroom, but bigger than anything we ever had in China, with white sink, toilet and bathtub.

Bedroom was decent size, it will fit a queen size bed, and hopefully a little night stand. It has a build in closet on the wall and big window as well.

Yesterday I started browsing into IKEA (cheap furniture for students like us), and looking for little dining table, rugs, kitchen utensils. Looked into Costco for pots and pans ($150 for a decent set of pots and pans...not too bad at all).

Right now I have my hope flying up really high (which I really shouldn't, what if the owner decided not to rent it to us??) for the possibility of having our own nest next weekend.

Keep your finger crossed for us !!!

moving out

Bill and I are planning to move out and rent a 1 bedroom place (can be apartment, MIL suite, etc).
I crossed my fingers. I hope it will happen.
I am excited !
Our own place where we can decorate however we want it !!!

Wish us luck!

.....

Few days ago, a friend lost her fiance, on a motorcycle accident. They are going to get married in October.
I feel sad for her.

It makes me think. How short life can be.
What am I gonna do if the same thing happened to me ?

I will keep on praying for Bill's safety. Always.

I love you, husband