At about 1pm today, a colleague forwarded me an email. It was from Jetstar and it was promoting their ‘Friday Fare Frenzy’. How this works is on every Friday between 1pm and 5pm, Jetstar offers various destinations at a crazy low fare. This week, Bali was on sale and that got me quite excited. We have been to Bali (in 2007) but I lurve beach holidays so I quickly went to check out the rates.

I scanned through the dates and after a quick call to the boy, we booked our tickets! That must be the fastest holiday decision I’ve made. Heh.

For a total of $236 (all taxes included), we booked return tickets to Bali from 12 to 16 April 2010. Ok, I know it’s like really far away but hey, the tickets are damn cheap can?! This fare does not include any check-in luggage but no biggie. I’d just pack toiletries that are less than 100ml each and bring very little clothes. Besides, what clothes do you really need for a beach holiday except for a bikini and perhaps some clean underwear?

Next up would be to decide where to stay. Any recommendations? We stayed at Sanur previously at Aston Legend Villas (which was really nice!) so we’d probably check out another area. Anywhere but Kuta please!

Here are some photos from our previous Bali holiday:

Yes, that is my foot with a flower in between my toes. This was taken by the pool where we were the only ones using it! Ahhhh….

Our villa with private pool. Yes, it was truly awesome.

Breakfast served in our villa everyday. Check out the hand-crafted watermelon slices. Talk about living like a king….

Ok, I should stop looking at our photos since our next Bali trip is erm, FIVE months away. Gulp.

After work today, I drove over to Genting Lane to pick up our canvas print. Their office closes at 5.30pm but arrangements were made for them to leave the print outside their door for me to pick up. Funny how it won’t disappear! Heh.

Genting Lane is one big maze to me and thankfully, I had the handy road directory. When I saw the print, I gasped slightly. It was so big!

To cut a long story short, I managed to single-handedly carry it home. Ta-dah!

We now have to find a day and time to hang it up on the wall. Oh, next week, we are getting a new wardrobe built (more space for shoes! bags! clothes! WOOHOO!) so we’d get the contractor to drill the hook for us.

So our canvas picture is now ready. I know that because earlier today, I received an email from the printers. Their email was accompanied by an e-invoice. Nothing surprising nor out of the norm but you have to read their email to me. I am still wondering if they meant it as a joke.

Please note that nothing’s been edited. What you are about to read is a “as-it-is” piece. Well, except that I’ve taken out the company’s name and my name:

Dear miss ene,

It is my pleasure to inform you that your brilliant print is ready to be collected.

You will be pleased to know that I personally supervised our production team as they delicately printed your image and hand crafted a fine timber frame from the very best of our timber stocks. I watched as they delicately stretched and wrapped your print around the frame, and meticulously inserted Italian made staples to secure your print.

I took great delight in witnessing our highly trained hanging expert from Japan insert the hooks and cord that will be used to hang your print for all the world to see. Your print was then carried aloft to our packaging temple, where our white-gloved staff checked your work of art to ensure it met our sky high standards.

I could only smile as your print was collected by six fine horsemen from our production facility. The roar of 100 drummers drumming was deafening, as your print was moved to our showroom, awaiting your collection. We are thoroughly exhausted, but cannot wait to serve you again.

Thank-you once again, we truly appreciate that it is you, our customer, that puts the food on our table.

Please find attached invoice ‘20090680′. The total amount owing is $251. Bank details as follows. Please include your name or invoice number in the transfer reference.

Account Name: XXX
Bank code:XXX XXX XXX

Kind Regards and thank-you once again.

XXX Accounts Team

Well, I am very glad to know that my canvas print:

• was handled by ‘ highly trained hanging expert from Japan’. Not sure why but I have this vision of a tiny Japanese man (ala the small chinese guy in Ocean’s Eleven) swinging about on ropes trying to ’insert the hook and cord’.
• has ‘italian-made staples’ (someone tell how to spot the difference between italian-made staples against the ones used by mere mortals like us?)
• my canvas print (MINE!!!) was ‘carried aloft’ to their ’packaging temple’ where Michael Jackson fans ‘white-gloved staff’ checked MY piece of art. I’m starting to think that our canvas print is a sacred gift from higher beings.
• was colleted by ’six fine horsemen’ from their production facility. I mean, WOW. Seriously! Horsemen?! I wonder if they were riding into the facility on white horses with gorgeous manes (the horses, not the men).
• made a very loud noise because of the ‘100 drummers’. All this fanfare just for MY print? WOW!
• ‘truly exhausted’ all their staff but they ‘can’t wait to serve me again’. After all that effort they went through, do I really want to put them through – gasp - another order??
• helped to ‘put food on their table’. Now, I’m starting to feel like Angelina Jolie. Someone give me a Nobel Peace prize already. Or is it a humanitarian award? Whatever. Anything also can. I’m easy.

And you know what? For all that cross-border effort (Italy, Japan, the works) they went through, I ONLY owe them $251. Awwww. It is such a good deal, I can weep.

Someone pass me the hanky please. Sniff.

This morning, the boy sent me this text message:

Yesterday you must have had a good dream! You were laughing and munching away in your sleep.

Wahahahahahahaha. That cracked me up. I replied to say that I had no idea I was even dreaming, let alone laughing or munching. He then replied:

Yeah, you were laughing quite loudly. I wished you shared your food with me though. Sounded like you enjoyed it.

*LOL*

My husband can be quite funny sometimes.

This picture is one of my favourites from our pre-wedding photoshoot with Utopia. I know you can’t really see our faces but I really do love the composition of the picture. I like how the boy has one foot forward while I hold my gown gingerly with my free hand. It’s like we’re on our way to an adventure!

We’ve been meaning to make a large canvas print of one of our wedding photos to hang in our living room but due to a mixture of laziness and procastination, we’ve been sitting on the ‘job’ till this afternoon. After going through all our photos, the above photo still ‘jumped’ out at me. I did not want one of those typical wedding photos where we are both grinning at the camera. Rather, I’d rather a nice photo that looks almost like a painting.

So, no prizes for guessing which photo we chose to enlarge onto a canvas block

I did a quick seach online and found Brilliant Prints. To cut a long story short, I gave a call to the company and after a quick chat and email, we confirmed our order for a 100cm (W) x 66.69cm (H) canvas print. Total cost?

$261.

Wow. Not cheap at all. Then again, it is a rather large print and they sound like a pretty reputable company. I like this bit from their website – note the paragraph I highlighted in red:

“We want you to be 100% happy with the product you receive from us. Thus, you can order your canvas print, and you do not have to pay a single cent until you have received the print. If, for any reason at all, you are not completely, absolutely 100% delighted with the way that your print turned out then simply contact us and we will arrange for our courier to collect the print from you and return it to us at no cost to you.

This guarantee extends to imperfections in the canvas, you simply changing your mind, you deciding that you would prefer a different image, colour problems, framing problems, your recent divorce from the other person in the photo. Whatever the reason, we will do everything to ensure you are satisfied.”

LOL! That made me laugh. But then again, it’d good to know that if I am not satisfied with the product, I can simply return it without having to pay first. Woots! Best bit? The canvas print can be ready in 4 days time. FOUR DAYS! Wow. That’s amazingly fast!

I can’t wait to see how it’d turn out

Check out my nails which I specially did for the fashion show:

Check out how long they are!

These superduper long nails are making it really hard to type! But here’s a secret: They’re not real.

Yep, the nails you see above are nail extensions.

My real nails were too short so I decided to check out nail extensions. It’s my first time trying them and they’re pretty cool! They feel just like real nails and feel pretty sturdy. I think the glue used is industrial strength. Heh. I got these done for $50 at Bishan J8, at a little corner shop called Nails in Vogue, and they did a pretty good job.

The question is: Do I need to head back to the shop to get it removed? Can I do it on my own at home? Will I rip out my real nails? Having such long nails is getting irritating because I cannot type fast enough, I cannot send text messages properly, heck, I cannot even unbutton my trousers or put on my earrings properly lor!

But I did spend $50 on them so me thinks I should at least keep them for about a week. Boo.

Bright and early this morning – 8.15am to be precise – I made my way to the Pan Pacific Hotel. Bridal Veil was having their ‘Up Close and Personal’ Sneak Preview Show. BV was going to showcase their 2010/2011 collection and I was asked to be one of the guest models for the show.

Yes, you read right. Miss ene was going to be a guest model, wearing her very own wedding gown for the show. It was my very first time being a model so I was a bundle of nerves as I arrived at the venue.

After a quick breakfast of muffins and tea, it was time for make-up and hair. I also realised first-hand that models – the real ones who were at least a head taller than me without shoes – actually spend a lot of time sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

Here are some photos I managed to sneak of the dressing room before I was told that cameras were banned. Heh.

There’s a (real) model touching-up her own make-up. Rows and rows of gorgeous gowns were hung by order of model, i.e. each model had 5 different outfits.

All hands on deck as everyone chips in. It’s a flurry of activity backstage!

Accessories were all laid out with labels indicating the model’s name. The top hat’s cute eh?

Photos of each model were stuck on the wall with the order of dresses. How orderly!

Our shoes – we brought and wore our own wedding shoes.

The professional models all came prepared with books and importantly, shawls/jackets to keep themselves snug and warm. Well, us (there were a total of 6 guest models, i.e. real BV brides) were of course, rookies to the situation so we all sat around and chatted while waiting for our hair and make-up to be done, all the while trying to stay warm in the freezing breakout room-turned-changing room.

Waiting….waiting….My fellow guest models playing the waiting game.

Soon, it was my turn to get my make-up and hair done. My hair’s still pretty short (just touching my shoulders) but amazingly, Cedric, the make-up artist (he did my make-up and hair for our wedding day too), managed to put up my hair as if I had long hair.

Black gown on left, white gown on right, me in the middle.

 Of course, this involved a trillion black pins and about half a can of hair spray. The entire changing room smelt of hair spray!

After all 6 of us were done, we were given a modelling crash course. It looked simple enough – walk, pose, walk somemore, pose, walk walk walk walk, pose, exit. We were wearing our heels but were still in our casual attire. Naturally, this allowed us to walk a lot more easily without worrying about tripping over our gowns. It was a whole new different ballgame when we put on our gowns!

We walked on the ‘catwalk’ twice and were done. The show was held at Zambuca, an italian restaurant and bar located on the third level.

Soon, it was time for lunch. I ate a quick lunch of a few mouthfuls of fried rice and sat around chatting with the rest of the guest models – Siow Ling, Delia, Siew Pin, Karen and Cai Ling. Everyone got along pretty well, probably because we had common interests – we were all BV brides and it was our maiden attempt at the catwalk!

The 6 of us, post-make up and hair.

The tea-time show was going to begin at 3pm so at about 2pm, it was time to change into our gowns. Thankfully, BV kindly provided a large white cloth for us to change behind so that we didn’t need to be naked in front of strangers

And yes, it’s true that models are pretty used to stripping down and nonchalently stepping into their gowns. At one stage, a couple of us were close to staring at them because they had insanely long legs and really good figures! I’m sure many men would have given up their arm (or two) to be in our place…

It has been more than 5 months since I wore my wedding gown and I forgot how heavy it was. I also found out today that the train on my gown is 2 metres long. Wow, I didn’t realise that it was that long!

3pm soon arrived and the guest models were up first. After more hairspray and quick touch-ups, it was showtime.

As I stood behind the black curtain separating me from the crowd, I could almost hear my heartbeat audibly. I suddenly felt like I was about to enter the ballroom on the day of our wedding with a mix of apprehension and nervousness except that this time round, I was alone and the boy wasn’t beside me to squeeze my hand. Gulp.

I was the first guest model to enter the room and thankfully, I did not trip over my gown and make a fool of myself. After all that waiting and preparation, we were on the ‘catwalk’ for no more than 2 minutes! It was nice to see the boy smiling at me from the audience…

After the show, we hung out at the reception area to mingle with the guests but not many people came up close to have a look. Maybe they were just shy It was also time for photo-taking:

The 6 guest models. Yes, I am the shortest of them all despite wearing 4″ heels. Tsk. See the pink gown beside me? That’s the exact design I had for my evening gown except that this is in pink.

Acting cute.

With the designer herself, Michelle HuiMin.

Definitely a fun and memorable experience but for now, I need to go get much-needed sleep and rest. The wedding gown is really heavy lor!

The wedding shoe’s packed. The nails are manicured. The face has been masked.

Miss ene is going to don her wedding gown for the second time tomorrow.

Again. For the 2nd time…

Yesterday evening, we were supposed to head back to the boy’s parents’ place for dinner but unfortunately, his parents and his younger bro are down with H1N1 so his mum warned us to stay away. Oh dear. I do hope they get well very soon…

The boy was craving for homecooked food and coincidentally, my mum asked if we’d like to head home for dinner this evening as she was going to cook. We don’t pass up on homecooked food so of course, we said yes.

Based on previous experience, we knew that she’s probably cooking up a storm. She doesn’t make dinner very often these days as she’s busy with her own business but when we head back for dinner, she goes all out!

True to form, she did not disappoint. Check out the spread!

There was chilli crab (she made everything from scratch, including the chilli!) with fried man tou, cereal prawns and crayfish (very very yum, especially with the cereal bits which I LURRRVE), grilled pork ribs, steamed fish, etc etc etc.

Naturally, we all overate. Burp.

Even though we just sat around the dinner table chatting about random bits and watched a spot of ‘Crime Watch’ together, it was very nice to just hang out.

Usually, we would try and head back to our parents’ for dinner at least once a week (at most, two). Even if my mum wasn’t cooking, we’d meet up for dinner at a nearby eating place. I think that’s one of the ‘changes’ that marriage brings. When we were single, we almost took for granted the meals we had at home. It is only when we move out and live on our own that we really FULLY appreciate all the wonderful meals that our mums whip up.

My sister’s online shop PINK Flare has some new arrivals and they are pretty cool. Best of all, they’re CHEAP! I bought this pretty piece called ‘Chill Breezer’:

Can’t wait to wear it to the beach or for a Sunday brunch with girlfriends.

Oh and for those of you who are using the iPhone, check out these gorgeous bling-bling covers to erm, bling up your phone!

Bling not for you? There are Paul Frank covers as well, in pretty shades.

We saw the exact covers at a surf shop in a fancy shopping centre Phuket going for S$39! If you get them from PINK Flare, they are only – are you ready? – S$14!

Go on, start shopping!