tomorrow is the day!

yesterday we went down to collect the gowns, collect the video montage DVD, make the outstanding payments. as we found out later the photographer we had expected is not the one who will be at our wedding tomorrow. Agnes is rather upset they changed it without informing/asking us, since we are already familiar with the guy who also did our photo albums and have struck up a rather good personal relationship as a result. besides his handy work is not half bad as evidenced when people see the albums for themselves tomorrow.

after that we headed over to New Market Street where we bought some stuff for the house. did not manage to find what we wanted but still managed to spy a nice water feature for $30 from a rather amusing man. so we finally found a water feature for the home we both can agree on...

and then it was off to Bras Basah Complex. we were looking for a box for all the red packets. did not manage to find any nice & cheap ones at the 2 bridal shops went to. the cheapest we saw was like $25 for an ordinary heart shaped cardboard box. the rest hovered in the $45 to $60 region. although they look nice they are kinda expensive for something that is only gonna be used for a few hours and only once. the alternative to buying would be to make one, wrapping up an old box with ornate papers or frills, but do not think either one of us possesses the artistry or time to embark on such an endeavour at such short notice.
so in the end we just went over to Popular Bookstore, and bought 2 gift boxes which we will later cut slots. not bad looking for the purpose it was meant for. best of all only $3+ a pop.

then it was a short walk over to Raffles City. we were looking to have dinner, but some more christmas decorations for the house and buy some facial moisturiser for agnes. had dinner at the food court.I had the Pepper Lunch thingy, and Agnes had what else....ban mian... her favourite comfort food if ever there was one. the other two things remained unresolved despite all our efforts. it seems that stores take down all their christmas decor products more than a week before the actual day so we were unable to find anything for sale when we were there. as for the moisturiser thing, those things are really expensive! those really effective ones cost in the $70 to $100 region for a little bottle. way too much for people like us who hardly use any skincare products.

then it was over to the flat where we watched a little TV, stuck up some wedding decals and decorated the christmas tree with some of the lights and ornaments I brought from the office. at least now the tree does not look so sparse. and there is no need to buy any new decorations.

as for today we still have errands to run:

~ go to HSA and collect some cream thing for Agnes from one of her colleagues. apparently it worked a treat during the biting cold in Switzerland..

~ go back to the bridal studio to collect the bridal bouquet and corsages.

~ agnes will be clearing out her house and room in preparation for tomorrows convergence of people.

~ on the other hand I will be over at the flat cleaning out the flat and clearing up all the clutter.

~ and then Agnes will bring '.. all that junk, all that junk, inside her trunk.." over to the flat. we will then place all the rubbish...umm...agnes stuff, in boxes to be placed in our storeroom. thereafter the storeroom will be commissioned as a no fly zone by the United Nations. and no living being or creature or alien unless proven otherwise shall come into contact with the contents therein until after we return from the hotel on Sunday.

~ i also have to find time today to iron all my crinkled shirts and stuff to be worn tomorrow. it is amazing how many shirts I have when they have all been washed and ironed out. I usually have to over-compensate with what I have in order to have enough stuff to wear for work. but over the last week or so, daddy has been working overtime to iron my shirts and all (with his new fangled iron!!), that suddenly I have more shirts than can fit into my 'little' wardrobe. Agnes says I have more clothes than she does. and I think she may just be right. thank goodness I will be moving out soon, so new home = more wardrobe space. I will probably only be able to move some of the more essential stuff over at this point of time. as we only have one built-in wardrobe. and a rather small temporary cupboard for all our clothes.

we will definitely have to buy for stuff for the flat in the weeks and months to come.
we still need a wardrobe or 2.
a couple of bedside tables for the master bedroom.
a tv. dunno what sort though, as we have a huge King Sized bed, and not much space for anything else. a wall mounted TV is an option, otherwise we could get a CRT one to place in the corner of the room. but that would mean we need to get a corner console which in turn would make that corner of the room impassable for all intents and purposes. another way is to make some sort of console or raise at the foot of the bed where all our stuff can be.
we also need some sort of cabinet or showcase in the living room.
maybe some shelves in the store room/bomb shelter.

we are dis-inclined to drill holes in the walls unless deemed absolutely necessary. so it becomes an issue when it comes to wall mounted TV sets, clocks and pictures on the walls.

insomuch as I enjoy living at Casuarina Road all these years, ever since I started to drive a car home, parking has always been a issue. as much as people envy those who live in private housing with their free and unlimited parking, it could not be further from the truth. it seems that when you buy a house in my estate, the number of car lots you are entitled to is inversely proportionate to the number of floors of your house. even then, it is not a certainty you will get a parking lot. people who do not own cars use the parking areas to make into extensions of their front porch, complete with plants,trees and all sorts of garden features. not to mention the high turnover of owners and the interim renovation works that it entails. so you have lorries,cranes and all manner of construction materials and devices occupying places meant for cars. and some people who have car porches in their compounds do not even use them. then there are those who run home based businesses or bring back company vehicles! so what you have is a high traffic flow of vehicles moving in and around the estate, with limited number of free parking spaces, and an 'at-your-own-risk' parking scheme. I had my car scratched a number of times, vulgarities strewn across my windscreen, anonymous notes, damaged tires and even once found my car with no engine oil!
things were better before they decided to 'upgrade' the neighbourhood by building footpaths around the estate. at least then the road was wider (you could even park two abreast if you needed to), and there was greater flexibility in parking. so you could usually find a lot if you were creative enough. so now the footpaths are white elephants which serve as areas for bins, plants and benches. so no one can actually get from one end of the road to the other by actually walking on the designated footpaths anyway. and you get a more congested road to boot. so much for 'upgrading'...
as it is now, I usually park in the public car parks in the area which have free overnight parking(5pm to 8 am), if I am working the next day. if, not i would park at the parts of the estate which are somewhat deemed 'no-mans-land', which belong to no house in particular, mainly Old Upper Thomson Road, Seraya Crescent and Jacaranda Road. but that does not mean nothing will happen to your car in these areas. after all these spots are much coveted and are all filled up by the time I get home on most nights. and you still do get the occasional vandalism as described above.

somehow season parking is not so bad when you consider the travails of free parking for me.