here comes the bachelorette x 2

So after about a week from my bachelorette trip with my bridesmaids, I had another bachelorette party and this time it's with the girls I've spent my hingusan years with and sayang setengah mati!

It was a double bachelorette for this party because there are two November brides-to-be within our clique!!! Ellia's will be 3 weeks from mine and I cannot be more happy sharing a bachelorette party and wedding month with this darling. Because Ellia and I? We go WAY back. 

We first knew each other from kindergarten, before going to the same primary school and becoming good friends, and naturally, we ended up in the same clique when we went to the same secondary school! Went our separate ways when she opted for JC whereas I opted for poly (I refused to step into JC even though I made the cut, much to my old man's dismay HAHA sorry I inherited your stubbornness, Ayah! Well, at least I found my jodoh in poly, kan?! Haha) but we stayed good friends throughout because kitaorang have been meeting and catching up during parties and dinner sessions with the other girls every other month for the last few years. 

Okay scratch that - for the last TEN freaking years. 

Which is pretty much the idea for our bachelorette party - it's been ten freaking years since our graduation. Lama or what!!! So kirakan ala ala #throwback to our green young years lah gitu.

DIY school logo lovingly made by our mommy-to-be Iffah can you believe it!!!!! This girl's attention to detail is superb, ballz. Oh, and we obviously have more pictures than that lah but everything else were in albums that the girls brought along for the party and we shrieked and giggled over during the course of the night. (Glad we've all gotten over our "changing faces of boyfriends during almost every outing phenomenon" by the way hehehehehe)

Didn't know what the girls planned so it was again weird not knowing what was in store for me that night! Both brides-to-be were blinded-folded and driven to a secret location - I think we made it very difficult for Team Escort because we were so kecoh and noisy and kept pestering them to reveal the theme and location of the party hahahahaha. Kesian dorang kena handle kita!

(Our modus operandi for bachelorette parties: People will be assigned to Team Prep, who will make arrangements for hotel booking, food and decorations, and Team Escort, who will be in charge of prepping the bride-to-be and eventually escorting the bride-to-be to the party.)

Okay lah we cut the kecoh nak mampos blind-folded walk from carpark to hotel room, cut the shrieking choruses when blindfolds were taken off, cut the chattering at 1000000km/h short - our party was at - drum roll, butter roll, perut roll - The Fullerton Hotel woohoo!!! Room was awesome and came with Bvlgari toiletries which made me smell like A MILLION BUCKS. Loved it!

"Welcome to the Zany Green Parade" bunting! Hehe. Lovingly crafted by Iffah tooooo!!!

(Zany green parade was our school's sort-of annual cross country run event, by the way. I say sort-of because not every student has to take part in the cross country run - thank God for that! Each class only needs to elect 10 runners to participate in the actual run itself whereas the rest of the class dresses up according to our own chosen theme and parade down the designated route at East Coast Park. It was fun as hell - we get to dress up silly and showcase our class camaraderie with class chants and cheers... very happy festive stuff.)

 Super yummy food by Liyana's mother!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOO YUMMY.

Thank you God for giving my girlfriends and I mothers who are great cooks! Please let me be a great cook once I have kids so they can show off to their friends too HAHA.

Someone decided it would be a fabulous idea to bring along two of her old pinafores haha it was a faaaaabulous idea indeed!!! I still feel resentful over the fact that my supermother threw away my old pinafores, by the way. Barang legend pergi buang pulak!!!!! Pfft >:(

Oh ya, actually kan, when the girls told Ellia and I to wear something "green" it was a bit of a giveaway lor. Why else kan nak kena pakai green segala kan??? Takkan party theme is environmentally friendly, go green, sort of thing kan?! Mangkuk pe.

The morning after. Ellia was making the bed when Rai and I screamed at her to stop. Lol.

I shall end this off with pictures of Ellia and I during our primary school and secondary school period, even though I know Ellia will scream at me for the next three months and hate on me for little longer than that. But it's okay lah - not like she can hate me forever ape, we've got about 21 years of friendship that can help us withstand such a falling out hur hur hur. 

Plus Ellia is really the sweetest girl I know, so I know she will forgive me!!! The only thing that irritates me about her is her inane obsession at cleaning everything up and making the beds even during hotel parties when we have housekeeping for that eh. Contoh isteri mithali, this one, you all must emulate her okay. (Cheh you all eh. Diri sendiri tak nak suruh emulate eh.)

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Thank you Ellia for being a great friend throughout these 20 odd years of changing hairstyles, changing hormones and changing boyfriends. Let's run this final lap together okay, even though I always joke that your "running" is really my "jogging" HAHA! 

And THANK YOU to our (retired) geng cilakaz for throwing us the most wonderful party evarrr. Here's to a few more bachelorette parties, upcoming baby showers and housewarming parties! Looks like our conversation at the school canteen about our futures together has materialized lah, korang :,)

here comes the bachelorette

Went for my bachelorette weekend trip at the end of August!

Had to wait till raya celebrations and our outdoor photoshoot was over before can go hurray hurray with my girls. Felt restless and unsettled before the whole thing happened because I didn't know the plans and what I was expected to do :/ Only knew part of the plan two days before it actually happened - when the girls sent me this little note via our group Whatsapp chat:

Trust them to come up with a Stepford Wives theme eh!!!!!

So biadab or what! Nampak sah aku farrrrr from a Stepford Wife stereotype siak hahaha so this was meant to be a bootcamp of sorts for me to learn how to be the "ultimate domestic goddess"???!!! Thanks eh korang, THANKS.

The note came with a "list of things to pack for a 3D2N trip" and I immediately knew we were going across the Causeway!!!!! Because one of the items listed was "some Malaysian ringgit" hahaha bo chui or what. Told my mat about it and said "Mesti KL!" to which he said "Mana you tau? Entah entah JB" to which I replied "Eh sekali Kedah ke Perak eh?" Hahahahaha. Siak!

Not that there's anything wrong with crossing over to JB ah but kauz, random ke ape pergi JB or even Kedah or Perak for a 3D2N bachelorette trip?! Haha! No idea why I was so sure it'd be KL, by the way. Would have been pretty epic if what I said in jest turned out to be true LULZ

Woke up super early on Friday and met my bridesmaids at Golden Mile Tower for our coach ride to KL (Yes, it was KL eh) - the girls wanted to book flights for the trip but all the available timings were unfavourable. Meh. Slept through a 6-hour coach ride to Berjaya Times Square, where we had our lunch before heading to our accommodation because we were freaking ravenous!

Korean lunch for everyone!

It started raining heavily when we were done so we cabbed to our accommodation.

Super cosy apartment at Bidara Condominium Bukit Bintang! Comes with a living room, a small kitchen, two bedrooms with two queen-sized beds and two toilets. Very clean, living room served as an awesome lepak point (Comfy sofas, cushions and warm fuzzy carpet FTW! Plus the long glass window gave us a bit of a view - we even caught fireworks on the first day heh)... my only grouse is the water pressure is pretty low so everytime kena flush three, four times, one.

 Krispy Kreme doughnuts for snacking purposes!

I was still pretty exhausted from the coach ride (it was bumpy and I kept drifting in and out of sleep zzz) so I took a quick nap before the girls woke me up just before Maghrib so I can mandi and siap for the night. Walked out to see pretty buntings hung around the apartment and the girls decked in their Stepford Wives' best hehehe:

Girls even assembled a Stepford Wife kit for bride-to-be me! There was a kitchen mitten for cookies and cakes that I will never bake, an apron handsewn from scratch by Nani (this one veteran Stepford housewife, confirm), some kind of scrub that I do not know the function of (korang percaya tak sekarang yang aku tak domesticated?!), a mini broom and dustpan, rubber gloves, sleeves to protect my hands and arms while washing dishes (?) and a few polaroids of the girls carrying out some of the pre-bachelorette trip tasks. Awww.

 Stepford wives snapshots! Itu apartment punya seterika semua jalan terus.

Kicked off the night with a few rounds of very jahanam dares that got us howling in laughter!!! (They were created by the Nadiah, the Biadab Games Slut Master herself, whaddya expect?!) Some of the videos taken that night tak censored tahap debbie goes dallas so they are never going to see the light of the day... you hear that, girls?!

And that's all for the night, folks!

HAHAHAHAHA I'm kidding, of course. Dah pakai tantek tantek takkan nak duduk rumah scrub toilet pulak kan??? Although technically that's what a good Stepford Wife would do..... We went out a-hoppin' that night but don't worry, there was no Miley Cyrus-style twerking involved LOLZ.

And don't worry, nothing of this sort either:

Hahahahahahaha.

Woke up in time for our dim sum brunch the following day!

My favourite item from the menu!!! Their custard bun is sooooo sedap!!! I think I had about ten thousand of them?!?!?! Oh, but makan custard bun sampai ten thousand pieces with tons of other dimsum orders pun, our total bill for the whole meal came up to less than SGD20 - or was it SGD25 - per pax, I think??? Murah siak.

The toilet that we went to before we started our jalan jalan around KL. Instead of the conventional tap, kena roll the wheels around if you want water to come out! Aku was so jakunz.

Headed out to Pavillion Shopping Mall and the surrounding shops for some shopping.

Ice lollies for everyone! Except Nani, who was feeling a little sick.

This was us goofing around at one of the shops! Kita actually masuk this kedai to beli payung because it started raining but we ended up browsing and goofing around sampai it stopped raining by the time we wanted to pay for the umbrellas. Haha! You ain't got nothin' on us, KL rain!

Lepas tu, everyone went for foot and back massages after a whole day of shopping and the initial plan was to head back to the apartment after our massages to wash up and change before going out for dinner. But it was almost 7plus in the evening by the time we were done so we went straight back to Pavilion Shopping Mall for our dinner... our oh so very sedap dinner.

Enjoyed our dinner so much because food was so freaking good! And the desserts!!!!! Do not get me started on the desserts okay. So freaking awesome tahap teenage mutant ninja turtle.

Loved these conversation starter cards that were placed at every table! We had a bit of fun pulling out cards for everyone to answer... Such an adorable idea, really. We were saying how this would be the perfect place to have a first date! (With ehem, Tengku Azwan from Subang who has a club in JB, maybe??? Hahahahaha #insidejoke)

Lagi lagi the ambience was superb!!! We sat at the alfresco area so it's a little bit more breezy than sitting inside the restaurant itself and there was a slight drizzle when we were halfway through our dinner so it was really nice and cooling.

View from where we were seated.

Walked back to our apartment after the drizzle stopped, washed up and chatted while lazing at the living room until 3 in the morning. Our main topic for discussion was very the hardcore ye! But I sungguh suka lah chatting chatting with my bridesmaids. So many opinions and experiences and jokes to share and cackle at. Hehe.

We went to KLCC Suria for a heavy yummy lunch before packing up for home the next day!

Walked around for a bit after we were done with lunch, overshot the time by a liiiiittle bit and had to rush back to the apartment before racing down to the coach pick-up point ala The Amazing Race... nasib baik we made it just in time for our coach! Kalau tak, terpaksalah cancel my wedding in Singapore and plan for a KL wedding instead HAHAHAHAHA CARI CHANCE NAMPAK. Padahal boleh just top up for the next coach pick-up eh haha

Oh, while I was away in KL with my bridesmaids, my mamat was away with his friends for his bachelor party too - but in Jakarta! Tengok lah si smart mamat ni.......

Waduh. Ganteng bener pacarku. Bisa bikin kehangatan ini. Hahahahaha.

Sham planned the 3D2N trip during the same weekend because it happened to be my mat's birthday weekend as well so kirakan combined celebration gitu ah. The other groomsmen didn't go because they had other prior commitments but they met up with Alvin, one of their Indonesian friends there who became their host during the 3D2N trip.

(Alvin is one of the most nicest, most friendliest and most humblest persons I've ever met! He was Saliheen's first friend that I met - along with Ahmad, at Alvin's apartment in Singapore - and even though I had reservations because of... uhmmm, certain circumstances at that time, he was really nice and hospitable and we were grimacing and shrieking at stupid tak perlu videos together in no time. Really hope he'll be able to fly over for our wedding!!!)

Anyway, just want to finish this entry off with the biggest THANK YOU to my bridesmaids for putting the whole bachelorette party/trip together for me!!!!!!!!!! Had such a fab time during the trip - would have been happy even if it was just dinner, because korang make such amazing company.

I'm really going to miss having you guys pamper me as the bride-to-be and me having the ammunition to pester you guys with wedding-related questions and tasks once this is all over! HAHA. Ketahuilah bahawa my cinta and kasih for korang sudah sampai ke outer space! <3

trashin' good times

Y'all must have known from previous entries that we had our photoshoot last weekend!!!

It was super hot and super humid on our photoshoot day but I guess hot and humid is better than raining like a mother father gentleman, kan?! We were pretty lucky the wind at our location was very strong though... cuma downsides: my hair decided to misbehave and main angin so I had hair in my face + hair claws in some of the shots -___-

But wind or no wind, my hair was a whole goddamn mess on that day lah okay!!! You see, I thought it'd be nice to curl my hair for the photoshoot so Nani came over with her Pro Babyliss 30-roller hairsetter to help me set my hair before Dyana came to make me up.

Unfortunately for me, the curls died a very quick death and I suspect it's because the curls weren't set in the curlers long enough (not enough time!!!) + the humidity got to the curls. Urgh. I ended up with limp lifeless hair by the time we reached the location because my hair was freaking heavy and stiff because of the hairspray + I didn't wash my hair that morning because curling unwashed hair is supposed to help maintain the curls better.

HAIZ. Whaaaaat is it with me and hair ah??? Remember I didn't really fancy my hair during my engagement??? BAH. I hope I'm not permanently cursed with bad hair days during special occasions or something because I need my hair to behave on my wedding day okay!!!!! Should have stuck to my natural hair for the photoshoot lor... especially now that it's recovering from its thinning problem (which I blogged about here).

Eh tak sia sia okay I spent $200 on the whole set of Phyto products... my hair (head?) is fuller now and my scalp is not showing as much yay yay (Had help from Avalon Thickening Shampoo to thicken my hair initially, but that product has been discontinued for sale in Singapore boohoo) Downsides of using the Phyto products so far:

(1) my hair doesn't smell awesome after a wash because the Phyto shampoo takde floral smell or what (more like a mild... clinical smell?); and

(2) my hair is much drier than it originally was.

But it's alright, it's okay, baybeh! I'd rather have dry thick hair than thinning hair yang sampai nampak scalp, please. Lesser than two evils ma.

Aaanyway, now that I dah get my frustration about my rambut off my chest, I nak sharing sharing a few behind-the-scene pictures! :D

And yes this is the dress! The dress! Heh.

Actually kan, the inspiration for my dress was this lah kan: 

 Suka sangat! ♥ ♥ ♥

My angan angan was to sew colourful netting under the skirt but it turned out to be quite the challenge because the material of the dress wasn't compatible for such additions :( So I scrapped the idea and told my mum to just fix the bulkiness of the dress. Seriously bulky tahap biadab okay ini dress when it first arrived at my doorstep!!! Suspect kuat ini baju untuk pakai during winter ah actually. So many layers sak!

Can't say I particularly love the dress in the end but I thought the dress looked and felt slightly better than when I first received it after my mum did her absolute best to fix it lah. (Kaulah ratu hatiku, Ibu!) And it turned out pretty cute in the end, yes? Hur hur.

Oh, after much consideration, I also scrapped the idea of having something in my hair! (Blogged about it here and here) Thought my eye make-up was dramatic enough and my dress was "loud" enough so I didn't want to over-accessorize. Takut nampak overbearing pulak! And what with the issue of my maha fail hair segala..........

And that's our awesome photographer Zakaria Zainal doing his ~thang~! 

He was sitting and squatting and lying and walking and standing all over the place to try and get the best light and the best shot okay! Can really see how professional and knowledgeable he is bila bab bab ambik gambar ni semua, and he seems to be a really fast worker!!! I received a few shots ala ala sneak peek gitu via Facebook message the day after the photoshoot and really can't wait to see the rest. 

I look like a bloated whale with greasy hair claws in some of the shots actually but I don't really give a rat's ass because the quality and surroundings very cantik and we look ridiculously happy :D (Well, that's because my mamat couldn't stop goofing around like the annoying bugger that he is and I kept bursting into fits of laughter)

 

Oh, I ordered the super gorgeous rainbow cake from @farahhaffandi on Instagram, by the way! Tasted as gorgeous as it looks - stuffed myself so much, I could have puked rainbows for days. If you're interested to order - or even just to ogle - her gorgeous cake creations, follow her on Instagram please!!! I love her cakes so much, I'm going to dedicate a quarter of this blog entry to show you all her cake creations haha:

Sooooo cantik cantik belaka kan?! Simple and cantik, I very suka.

Her flavours pun always sound so sedap and interesting tau! Even before I can finish saying the names of her cakes, halfway my mulut dah banjir with my air liur seh.

Okay. So. Anyway. Where was I before I talked about air liur banjir..........

Oh yes, the photoshoot. 

We spent about 2 hours plus posing and smiling to the camera until my joints and the corners of my mouth ached. Baru senyum sekejap dah rasa penat! I cannot imagine betapa seksanya nak senyum for few hours straight during our wedding day nanti zomg. Can I choose not to smile on the pelamin and say I'm the silent brooding type of pengantin or something?! O_O

Oh, then the last 45 minutes was spent... THRASHING EACH OTHER! WOOP WOOP.

 

Nak kiss my mamat many many for letting me get one of my teenagehood dreams!!!

Yes, I was so mentel, one of my teenagehood dreams was to have a Trash The Dress bridal photoshoot hahahahaha. (Blogged about Trash The Dress photoshoots here and here) Eh I have another one okay, and it was to have a wedding dress that is not white lol (Well, based on my discussion with the good people of Ishq by Nora Zee, I should be able to realize this other dream as well :P)

Oh, we received some comments from friends saying we look "macam Conjuring" but my mat and I have no idea what that means because we are both segan of horror movies and obviously did not watch the movie. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Anyway, the whole experience was really really really fun but super duper exhausting at the same time!!! One thing I've learnt from our Trash The Dress photoshoot experience:

(1) Photoshoots are mahatron megatron cybertron EXHAUSTING

Oh holy yes, they are! We only photographed for slightly more than 3 hours, wore only 1 outfit and we were already shagged out of OUR MINDS. Cannot imagine how exhausting it must be for couples who opt for 10 million outfit changes and kena photographed for longer hours!!!!! Satu tabik marathon gua kasi sama lu.

(2) Photoshoots takes a whole damn lot of effort and sweat

All those bright, happy photoshoot pictures we see online? Looks easy, looks breezy, but it seriously takes a whole damn lot of effort and sweat. And by a whole damn lot, I mean a whole damn lot of effort and sweat. Especially the sweat. Oh ho ho sooo much sweat.

Kan dalam gambar you'll see the couple posing and grinning away like chirpy energetic idiots and all kan??? But the sweatshop horror that goes on at the back of their necks and their temples and their scalps and their thighs and their freaking armpits... YOU HAVE NO IDEA, MY FRIEND.

(Okay fine, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, because couples who have their photoshoots in air-conditioned locations or during colder weather might not have this issue. BUT WE DID. BECAUSE IT WAS ~BURNING~ when we were out for ours okay)

Effort comes from having to search for and prepare all the necessary props and outfits and miscellaneous stuff prior to the photoshoot and also from having to angkut all your barang barang props while trying to maintain your baju and your hair on the day itself.

(3) It is NO fun when coloured powder gets into your eyes hahahahaha

I think I must have looked like an ikan siakap out of water menggelabah looking for water to wash the powder out of my eyes. Thank God we had enough sense to bring one whole balang of water along for the photoshoot!

Also, rip off your fake eyelashes if you're wearing any before a Trash The Dress photoshoot that involves coloured powder!!! Because the powder will get trapped on your falsies and when you least expect it, the powder will come tumbling down into your eye especially after you blink. NI AMARAN PENTING OKAY GUYS!!!

(4) Cleaning up after a Trash The Dress photoshoot is NO FUN AT ALL

Okay lah, this one expected lah eh. We didn't want to step into the car with our dirtied clothes - obviously - so we had to dust off the powder and change into clean clothes before stepping into the car.

I already preempted that there won't be any nearby washrooms that we can tumpang so I brought along a kain batik to use as a cover while I change. Tapi that part masih okay ah, masih boleh manage ah. It's the damn staining that happens after you dust the powder off tu yang buat songsang!!! Nak try wash off with the water that we brought along pun menyeksa seh so I gave up. After I reached home that night baru I scrubbed myself silly just to get the colour staining off.

(5) Do not schedule a photoshoot during your period / nearing your period. 

My period was due any day after my photoshoot and I felt bloated and achy and ridiculously thirsty thoroughout the shoot! But luckily I wasn't feeling super cranky sampai boleh turn into Hulk (HULK NO TRASH! HULK SMASH!) + my mat kept me very happy and entertained throughout the photoshoot so tak terbawak bawak sangat ah. Heh.

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Before I end this post I'd just like to give all my love and thanks to my bridemaids for layaning my requests for opinions and recommendations on our Whatsapp chat group prior to this photoshoot... and a super giant special thanks to the awesome power couple Sham and Aisyah who agreed to help us with the photoshoot at the very last minute!!!!! 

We didn't enlist anyone for help initially because we thought we could manage, but then realized we needed some help at the last minute so Sham and Aisyah stepped in and played their roles perfectly, even though it was a Sunday and they could have rested before the work week started. My gratitude is maha tremendous, guys. 

Also want to give my thanks to Nad, who is the straw to my berry (hahaha), for letting us crash her place after the photoshoot to wash up and have our overdue dinner which we grabbed from Simpang!!! (The guys stepped out to tapao the food because I was in no state to step out in public - my face, arms and legs were stained green so technically I almost did turn into a Hulk in the end ah hahaha)

And now I'm left with one and a half working days before I get to meet all my bridesmaids and see what the hell they have up their sleeves!!! It feels really discomforting not knowing what the plans are for my bachelorette party (because I'm usually the one leading preparations when it comes to planning parties for my friends!) but I know I can trust on these girls to give all of us a really good time. 

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Well, Nad did send me a text message last night asking whether I wanted a... urmmm, halal or haram party ah hahahahaha. 

I guess we're good as long as I don't end up looking like this by the end of the night?