Day #436 - Couple Time

Today's Small Wins:

• Date night with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Quality time with Dearest

Day #245 - Need More Time

It's not a restful weekend.
Event-packed, but feeling good because of the progress.

Goals of the Day:

• Finish off slides for work
• Achieved
• Submit ROM documents
• Not Achieved
• Selection of lightings
• Achieved

Dearest and I made an impromptu decision to go to JB and settle the lightings.

It went well! #teamJC

Today's Small Wins:

• Finished the slides for the update before I left office
• Bought lightings and ceiling fan from JB; saved money, especially for that Aeratron fan that I liked. haha...
• Corrected the bad decision and ensured the safety of the lightings

Today's Small Losses:

• Bad habits (Woke and Slept late, didn't meditate)
• Tend to do this when I'm tired and packed
• Made a bad decision to send the lightings to the new house

Day #244 - Running Errands

It's a whole weekend of things to do; mainly wedding + renovation stuff and working OT.

Goals of the Day:

• Have a good suit fitting session with Dearest and her bro
• Achieved
• Finalize carpentry works design
• Achieved
• Quality time with Dearest
• Achieved

Tiring day from morning till night; but it's good progress.

Today's Small Wins:

• Good progress on wedding and renovation stuff
• Had a good day with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Woke up and Slept late
• Didn't meditate

Day #232 - A New Beginning to Start Something

I know.
I start.
And I trust.

Goals of the Day:

• Cook french toast for the gathering in the morning
• Achieved
• Have a good sunrise session with Dearest
• Achieved (it was good, but cloudy without sunrise)
• Have quality time with Psych friends
• Achieved
• Arrange for rectifications for cement screeding
• Achieved
• Shop for electrical appliances at Mega Discount Store
• Achieved
• Quality time with Dearest
• Achieved

The 1st day of the day has been busy, but very good!

We managed to settle quite a bit of the renovation stuff, like discussing with the lady contractor on how to fix the cement screeding problem, and buying our hood+hob+oven. 

It was a nice morning as we woke up super early to catch the sunrise; too bad, it was rainy and cloudy.

Today's Small Wins:

• Woke up early to enjoy the morning with Dearest
• Had a good gathering with Psych friends
• Managed to reach a resolution with the contractor for the cement screeding
• Bought the hood+hob+oven, and changed the electrical appliances according to our current needs after some assessment
• Had fun being with Dearest the whole day

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't sleep early
• Didn't meditate

Day #231 - It's the Eve of a New Beginning

It's gonna be another new year; a new start.
It seems that people tend to use events as a sign to say, "Let's start something".
It could be done any day, but because events happen, and it prompts them to do it than any other day.
Same goes for me.

Starting from next year, at the end of 2020, I hope I can say that I have achieved 'something'.

Goals of the Day:

• Schedule review of the day
• Achieved
• Finish off the tasks from yesterday (reading, wedding car review, wedding schedule review)
• Somewhat Achieved
• Preparations for tomorrow's picnic with friends
• Achieved
• Rest early for tomorrow's sunrise with Dearest
• Achieved
• Detailed goals setting for the new year
• Not Achieved

It was an unexpected long day at the new house, discovering that the cement screed was done wrongly and we have to get it rectified quickly, and spending over 1 hour discussing with Dearest on the various electrical points and lightings plan.

Today's Small Wins:

• Reading for 30 min
• Reviewed wedding car choices and contacted one shortlisted
• Bought and made preparations for the picnic tomorrow
• Rest early for tomorrow's sunrise with Dearest
• Had a fruitful and patient discussion with Dearest on the electrical works for our new house
• Quality time with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't manage to review the wedding schedule
• Didn't set detailed goals for the new year (have to get this done by next weekend)

Day #227 - Breathe Through It

Breathe through the stresses in life.
Inhale. Exhale.

Goals of the Day:

• Fruitful discussion with Dearest on choosing of wall/floor tiles
• Achieved
• Effective at work
• Somewhat Achieved
• Settle UOB One account and credit card
• Not Achieved (Queue too long)

Did some OT this evening in order to wrap up a work task.

But kept thinking and feeling it's not the most important thing to do, but because it's the easier task to accomplish.

I need to work harder at prioritizing.

Today's Small Wins:

• Progress in renovation! #teamJC
• Focused at work (more so after everyone left the office. haha...)
• Started on the book, "Get Your Shit Together"
• Did housework (vacuum and mop)

Today's Small Losses:

• Woke up late
• Slept late
• Didn't meditate

Day #225 - Spending the Festive Season with a Loved One

And today, I'm with Dearest =)

Goals of the Day:

• Have a good morning breakfast & hike with Dearest
• Achieved
• Complete the photo album with Dearest
• Achieved
• Select a photo for the canvas with Dearest
• Achieved

Wasn't feeling that good in a mood yesterday because of office work stress.

But felt better after Dearest organized this morning hike for us =)

She's a wonder >_<

Today's Small Wins:

• Woke up early
• Had a morning hike with Dearest
• Completed 2 wedding matters that had been put off for quite some time (photo album and canvas)
• Slept early

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate

Day #223 - A Long but Fruitful Day

To me and Dearest.

Goals of the Day:

• Initiate the selection process of wedding invitation cards
• Achieved
• Settle invitation to solemnize form for our JOP
• Achieved
• Decide on credit card to use to buy mattress 
• Not Achieved

It's a long day of looking at invitation cards, then her looking at wedding gowns while I waited somewhere else, and then a nice evening together.

Good day =)

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time with Dearest
• Progress in wedding stuff
• Resisted food bad for throat

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't practise good habits (wake/sleep/meditate)
• Didn't manage to put in time to decide on credit card matters

Day # 218 - The Beginning of a Packed Week

I could foresee a packed week ahead; both in terms of office work, renovation and wedding.
And I will overcome these tasks.
As a phrase that kept me going when I was at one of my most vulnerable times...

To Lead, To Excel, To Overcome

Goals of the Day:

• Planned work tasks schedule to work towards update to Project Lead on Thursday
• Achieved
• Planned the week's schedule
• Achieved
• Settle coordination of cement screeding and electrical works
• Achieved

Went down to BTO, with Dearest joining later, to liaise with the electricians whom we arranged last minute, to settle the electrical points before the cement screeding in the living room.

Wasn't easy talking for 2.5hours with my throat hurting.

Was hungry, but luckily Dearest bought bread and water =)

Today's Small Wins:

• Planned the week's schedule
• Settled renovation stuff (stopping the cement screeding for the living room and quickly arranging for the electrical works)

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't wake up and sleep on time
• Didn't meditate

Day #216 - The Return of My Emotional Support

Dearest is back!

Goals of the Day:

• Financial account for JB trip
• Achieved
• Deposit of cheques from insurance payout
• Achieved
• Clearing of desk
• Achieved
• Fetch Dearest
• Achieved
• Defects check
• Achieved

Good news on the cement screeding and defects checking.

Today's Small Wins:

• Checked defects (2nd round) with Dearest
• Arranged for cement screeding
• Fetched Dearest from the airport
• Finished off yesterday's goals
• Meditated for 10min

Today's Small Losses:

• Woke up late
• Slept late

Day #211 - To Push Harder, and Further

Everything seems to be under control at the moment.
And perhaps it's not fast enough.
And that I should push myself even more.
Because I know, I can do better than now.
I shall, and I will.

Goals of the Week:

• Plan for the week ahead
• Halfway there
• Be focused at work
• Achieved
• Have a fruitful discussion on renovation
• Achieved

Was a tiring afternoon discussing about the renovation designs with Dearest and the contractor.

But it was a fruitful and progressive one.

Hooray to #teamJC!

Today's Small Wins:

• Did some planning for the week ahead
• Good progress on house designs

Today's Small Losses:

• Woke up and slept late
• Didn't meditate
• Didn't utilize my time that efficiently at home

Day #179 - Home, has a new meaning today.

We got our keys to our house today!
Although it was a big rush in the morning due to the stupid train delays, but overall, it was a nice day of doing rituals to bless the house, a cross-family lunch, and sitting on the dusty concrete discussing renovation works =p

Goals of the Day:

• Enjoy the process of key collection, house blessing, and renovation discussion with Dearest
• Achieved
• Consolidate all documents needed for printing
• Not Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Did diary update with Dearest
• Had a good day with Dearest on key collection
• Both families had a good meal together
• Worked hard on getting the renovation stuff done

Today's Small Losses:

• Sleeping slightly later
• Woke up late
• Didn't meditate
• Didn't manage to consolidate documents for printing (do tml then~)

Day #145 - Multiple Projects at One Go

It's a plan. My Plan.

And right now, "My Plan" has a lot of projects. haha...
Wedding, Renovation, NZ Trip, Office Work, Personal Work...
And Dearest is feeling a bit stressed on the wedding/reno stuff.
She has been taking on a lot to allow me more time for my personal things.
So right now, I should step up and contribute more.

Goals of the Day:

1. Finish 3 office work tasks that I have planned
• Somewhat
2. Navigate through theknot and furnish it with more details
• Achieved
3. Send 5 more requests for campervan quotations
• Didn't send in 5 more requests as the rest are not highly recommended

Had quite a productive day today =)

Office work was still rather overwhelming.

It always feel like that when I have to write report, which I don't like.

Back home, I setup a prototype on theknot to let Dearest see how the RSVP page would look like.

I told her about the limitations of the RSVP questions too.

She later told me that she might prefer Google form... let's see how. haha..

More or less settled on the campervan to rent. 

Woohoo~!

Today's Small Wins:

• Setup prototype on theknot.com
• Near to finalizing my choice for campervan
• Had an interesting idea for a social fashion app that I shared with Dearest
• Meditate for 10 min (after finishing this)

Today's Small Losses:

• Still sick
• Woke up slightly late
• Slept slightly late 

Day #137 - Booked an adventure!

This morning, I have finally booked my adventure to New Zealand!
Woohoo~!

Goals of the Day:

1. Settle flight tix to New Zealand
• Done
2. Settle Wedding prep stuff
• Reserve table for 14 Oct
• Done, but reserved the wrong restaurant after proudly telling Dearest. haha..
• Look through car rentals for Actual day
• Done
3. Quality time with Dearest after work
• Had a good evening =)
4. 30 min of video editing (at least)
• Undone, didn't have that much time between activities

Today's Small Wins:

• Had quality time with Dearest
• Settled the wedding ring design
• Booked a trip to new adventure!

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept late
• Woke up late
• Didn't manage to do the video editing
• Not focused at work because of fatigue from staying up last night to look at tickets

Day #34 - Just an experience

Did the urban attack 5 today!

Although I failed at the 2nd station for both of my runs, but I managed to attempt most of them during the practice. haha..

Dearest was there to support and help me record some of my moments during the practice and the runs!

Grateful for her presence =)

Today's Small Wins:

- Settled the designs for 4 dian jin

- Participated in a physical challenge (that was anxiety-provoking)

- Spent quality time with Dearest

- Spent quality time with the guys for Mahjong

Today's Small Losses:

- Didn't complete the physical challenge (but it's a motivation to try harder next year)

- Lost $70 at Mahjong (damn it)

- Didn't meditate

- Didn't sleep early

Day #20 and #21

The weekend was spent on visiting a renovation contractor on Sat, and then gown and suit fitting on Sun.
Was quite tiring, and Dearest was lamenting that the fatigue from talking to so many interior designers. haha.. I think we are getting there.

Today's Small Wins:
- Did some arm strength training in the morning
- Meditated
- Worked a bit on financial blog contents
- Spent time with Dearest on renovation and wedding stuff
- Progress in wedding preparation! (gown/suit fitting)

Today's Small Losses
- Didn't manage to finish what i planned for my financial blog contents
- Sleeping later than planned

Wedding Plan - Part 4

Yes~! After around 2 months+ worth of researching and visiting, we have finally settled on which bridal studio to go with!

Our criteria was fairly straightforward:

• Good service
• Good rapport with the sales personnel and the people who we will interact with most
• Affordable pricing (Dearest did a lot of research on this)
• All soft copies of pre wedding shoot returned
• Suitable gowns

And it seems that Kelly's Bridal fit the bill quite nicely. Not only that their service was among the top that we have experienced so far from around 5 or 6 places, but Dearest also had a good interaction with them. The price was really one of more affordable ones that we have found so far, and Dearest like their gowns a lot. And so, on our 2nd visit to Kelly's Bridal last sat, we have officially placed our deposit. WooHoo~!

Along with that, we also confirmed Leftear photography as our Actual Day Photography, and we also confirmed our Pre Wedding Shoot Photography, but I can't remember the actual. It's either happycouplepeople, or happypeoplecouple, or something along this line. Dearest really liked their work, and we're going with them.

What's left is to decide who to be our videographer on the actual day. We have limited our choices down to two, and will be meeting them soon~

In addition, we recently found out from the HDB website that our BTO completion date got pushed forward again. So we will be receiving our keys in this year, Q3! That's like another 3 to 6 months! It's coming so fast, we feel like we need to catch our breath with all these wedding and renovation stuff coming along.

At least we are starting early on all these things. And I'm glad she pushed us to quickly settle all these stuff. haha.. If it was all on me, I think I would just be starting to plan things now only.

Wedding Plan - Part 3

Through the discussion with friends and colleagues, I kinda got the idea that we would need to book our Justice of Peace rather urgently because the popular ones would be taken up. So as we pondered over which bridal studio and package to take up, we also went to ask for the availability of some popular and bilingual JOPs.

Our criteria were fairly straightforward.

1) Bilingual - Important because her dad and my mum don't really know english well

2) Good reviews - Always a good thing to know that other couples liked the way he did the ceremony

3) Humorous - Good to enjoy a few laughs here and there to make the whole ceremony more enjoyable 

4) Fatherly look - Just because it looks more appropriate for the occasion. haha..

It didn't took us long to find Mr Zenon Teh, who fulfilled all the above criteria, and was also free for our wedding date.

And in the process of finding JOPs, we realized we might have been a bit kiasu to book a JOP one year in advance. haha..

But hey, that's still one thing down!

#teamJC

Wedding Plan - Part 2

This post is a bit delayed, but I'm proud to announce that the wedding plan has moved to Part 2!

We have successfully booked our wedding venue last week at the Blissful Outdoor Wedding Show (BOWS) Jan 2017!

All in all, we have considered quite a lot of hotels based on our budget.

On the ground, we have visited around 4 hotels in total. 

Before we went down to BOWS, we already knew which venue we were going to take.

So when we reached BOWS, we walked straight to the desired booth and made our booking, ignoring all the aggressive sales pitching from all the other booths along the way. =p

It wasn't easy to finalize which venue to take.

The slots for some venues were already taken up when we enquire its availability. Singaporeans can really make plans that are very early (> 1 year in advance), or perhaps the date that we wanted was very popular.

Some venues are affordable with nice views, but the accessibility it very low (e.g. ONE°15 Marina Club).

Some venues are just too typical for our liking (e.g. AMARA, Holiday Inn Atrium). And also we didn't really like the ballroom that they have.

But for the venue that we booked, we had a good first impression once we arrived there.

I'm not sure how to describe it, but the feeling was so much better, and very different from the feeling of visiting the other venues.

This made us more certain of our choice.

And this is Raffles Marina =)

It was discovered by Dearest during our research, and she was very pleased with herself for finding such a place. haha... Though it's at the western end of the island, but the train stations will be up by our wedding to make it more accessible for our guests (hopefully, since LTA has been delaying it since late last year). 

Thus, the most urgent thing now has been settled.

Moving on to settling the more complicated stuff - Bridal package (which includes Pre-wedding shoot, Actual Day Photography, and Actual Videography).

I deemed this part of the wedding plan most complicated, because there are many possible combinations for getting this. We could go a la carte and get our own photographer for our pre-wedding shoot, and rent gowns from bridal studio, or we can buy off amazon or taobao. We could get the all-inclusive package from bridal studio which would cost us a lot more for the convenience and less hassle. We could get actual day photography and videography together as a package to get some discounts. And there are so many choices on the market to choose from!

It's not that time-sensitive, so we are going it at a slower pace than we were choosing our venues =)

#goTeamJC