A wedding and a geometric-inspired party!

Yes, Rik and I are officially married under the law of The Netherlands since 1 October 2014!

Although our big church ceremony and celebration with both families will be in January 2015, it still feels different knowing that you are permanently connected to this other human being you didn't grow up with.

Here are a few pictures from the signing at the Rotterdam city hall.

Trying to reach my family on Google Hangouts so they can "be there" during the signing.

The moment we made our vows to each other.

After lunch at the swanky Michelin star restaurant in the Wereldmuseum, we took some "official" wedding photos, taking advantage of the beautiful weather we were blessed with.

A few days later, we threw a party for our friends, to celebrate the wedding as well as Rik's birthday. Here I am, preparing food for the geometric-themed party.

Riri very kindly offered her services to create the food menu for the night, as well as preparing all the sweet treats.

Everyone seemed impressed by those 3D geometric shapes! They weren't difficult to make, just a little tedious with the cutting, folding and sticking.

The complete party table.

It was fantastic that we have so many friends who wanted to celebrate this occasion with us. And some who even travelled from other cities to be here.

Time to cut the cake.

Do something with your life. And Skype-ing with Arran on Asha's birthday.

I've decided.

I want to make a mark on this world.

Hearing so often now of people dying all over the world (think Oslo, Amy Winehouse and Bersih 2.0 for instance) makes me think about life and death. Most of the people who died in Oslo didn't get a chance to make much of mark on the world compared to Amy Winehouse, but I know that every single one of us has the ability to do so.

So while I'm still here, I'm going to make my life worth it. Someone saw fit for me to be in this world, and I'm going to make sure I'm not just this existence who lives, works and then dies with nothing to her name, but someone who made a positive difference in people's lives.

I can start by getting off my ass and doing some hard work ;)

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Last Sunday, I Skyped with my dad and family back in KL. It was Asha's birthday that week, so my aunt and grandmother were over for dinner. I Skyped with them after their dinner and got the chance to celebrate my sister's birthday with the family. It was really nice :)

They placed Asha and the cake in front of the webcam and invited me to start singing first. I'm pretty sure there was some lagging in the sing-along, but it was nice to be part of it.

I made screenshots of the 'party', but they're on Schrobbenmaster's laptop and I'll add them later. I was using his laptop because I wanted to take my family on a tour of the new apartment. They seemed impressed and my aunt was just confused as to why we had to pay to change the kitchen cabinets. That confused me as well until she said, "Why doesn't your landlord pay for it??". My stepmum helped to straighten that little misunderstanding out.

Then I showed Pim to my aunt, and she says:

"Why did you get such an ordinary-looking cat? He looks like a cat you can get in Malaysia!"

So I had to explain how Pim entered our lives, not by choice, but through an unhappy situation :( ...  I'm glad we have him though!

It was finally bedtime for the kids, so everyone said goodnight, but somehow left the Skype chat on. Only Yelleh Belleh and Arran were left at the computer, and the normally silent Arran, who only reacts when I stick my eye right into the webcam to make him laugh, suddenly started talking to me animatedly - about spoons.

"Che che... can you see my spoons?"
"Yes..."
"I have spoons."
"I can see..."
"I like shiny spoons."
"Me too."
"Do you have spoons?"
"Yes... and a fork."
(I showed him the fork I had used to eat a cake I happened to have in my fridge, which I pretended was Asha's birthday cake)
"I have... 1... 2... 3... 4... 5 spoons."
"Niiiiice."

And so forth.

I love speaking with children. They're so random and fun.

I can't imagine what Yelleh Belleh was doing the whole time next to Arran, but I can't imagine it was stimulating enough to keep her riveted to the chat :P In the end, I had to say Bye to Arran and his spoons because it was time to head to the final instalment of the Harry Potter series. Sad and sentimental :( But I enjoyed the show!

Happy birthday to me!

So this is my 600th post, I just realised. How nice that I've chosen to write a post on my birthday 10 days ago :)

The whole weekend was absolutely fantastic - Schrobbenmaster surprised me all day. I hadn't the faintest idea what he was up to, but it turns out... we spent the afternoon at the zoo! I've wanted to go since autumn last year, but it being too cold to be outdoors, we never bothered. So sweet that he remembered :D

For dinner, he surprised me yet again by bringing me to a Chinese restaurant almost around the corner from our house. Turns out that the owner is a lady from Penang who's an award-winning and Michelin star chef. And her husband is an award-winning HK dimsum chef. Ah, power couple. Even sweeter than finding this little restaurant hidden on a small lane, was that he had called previously to even request Malaysian dishes for me. Aww! So first we had the usual dim sum fare from the restaurant, and to finish off, Jenny, the owner, brought us her own self-cooked chicken rice and char koay teow. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera for the dinner because I had plans to go clubbing that night. But here are pics from the wonderful Diergaarde Blijdorp (the zoo).

Started with the ocean route...

The penguins were so cute and playful! And also way too fast to snap photos of.

Then we found the special place with the new baby polar bear, Vicks. It was his first day being allowed out of his 'house' and he's about 3 months old. So cute!

Those birds behind are of the most amazing fluorescent red. Such brilliance!

Trying one of frachely's special timer photos. They're quite fun to do!

Strange looking bird with a bird body and flamingo legs.

"Vulture with hernia - this vulture can only carry one person! And of course only on his back!"
Flying game for kids.

Too sunny... too sunny...

Mmm-aah-mmm-aah-mmm-aah.

I took photos of a lioness but she looked so sad I couldn't put it up. The lions are kept in the old part of the zoo that hasn't been renovated. And their enclosure stinks like crazy too. Poor lions *sniff*.

Anyways, after the surprise dinner, we met up with some friends at Level, the cocktail bar near our house, which was way too crowded, but we stuck it out and managed to nab two tables in the end. Got a pair of earrings and a gift voucher from De Bijenkorf from Vicky, Harry and Joel. I think I'm gonna use the gift voucher on something new for the new house. By the way, have I mentioned we're getting a new house? Can't remember...

And after Level, we wanted to go to Catwalk for some dancing, but it was waayyy too smoky even from the upstairs entrance. So we drank at this bar called Breakaway where girls were dancing on the bartop... and even the barman, who wasn't even remotely hot. And later on to Rotown where the music was slightly better but the sound system kinda sucked.

Was a fun night and I'm glad I didn't have to wake up the next day with a hangover! Gawd, I'm glad :P

Hello random girl who just poked her face into the photo and gave Schrobbenmaster a shock :P

Edit:

Here's a picture of me at the dinner, enjoying awesome dim sum!