Our 1st Wedding Anniversary :)

Been looking forward to this beautiful day :)

The Husband has been acting all secretive about our anniversary staycation, and only revealed the destination less that a week before. It's Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort, baby!

We were given a room with a perfect spot for a panoramic shot of the resort.

Some months ago, we attended a wedding at the same hotel, and I was moved to tears by the gorgeous hues cast to the sky by the setting sun on the back lawn of the resort while the bride and groom held their solemnisation. For a moment I almost wished I had booked my wedding party here too.

Prior to our anniversary, we came to an agreement that we shall not be buying anniversary presents for each other, but little did I expect the Husband to work out a loophole in that agreement. And I was still wondering why he took so long at the check-in counter (to give the peeps at Shangri-La credit, they allowed us to check in at 1pm although the check-in time indicated is 3pm).

I was speechless when he opened the door to our room on the 5th floor.

Even the bathroom was decorated with rose petals!

"12 roses, for every month we've been married," he said.

My favourite were the rose petal hearts on the bed, and how the light from the veranda lit up the room beautifully.

I've told my Husband umpteen times, as his girlfriend and his wife, I'm not a fan of flowers. But I hadn't expected him to think up something like this with the resort staff for this very special occasion. I could say it another thousand times over and it'll still seem insufficient, but thank you, my husband, for making this day extremely special. :)

Rasa Sentosa Resort has a special place in my heart - it's one of those few hotels my family used to have our yearly staycations at when I was in Primary School. Never did I expect to return to this place - as a Missus with my Mister - for our first wedding anniversary.

I love these huge and comfy lounge chairs fronting the sea view of the resort - they're just right for a couple to cuddle on, or simply for a lone traveler with a good book in one hand and an ice-cold beer in the other. Besides the lovely sunset to look forward to, you can often find yourself in the good company of the roving wild peacocks of Sentosa.

We revisited Trapizza, one of the amazing alfresco spots we had dinner at years ago, while we were still in college and were having a staycation at the budget NTUC resort (things tend to escalate quickly). It's also just a short stroll from Rasa Sentosa, on Siloso Beach. The wood-fired pizza was still as good as I remembered it to be, though they could do better with the alcohol.

 As we dined and watched teenagers having a go at beach volleyball and Frisbee, memories just came flooding back in. The times I visited Sentosa when I was a pudgy misfit in Secondary school, the times the Husband led a group of college freshmen to Sentosa when he was an orientation group leader, how we could have never expected ourselves to come back to this place on our first wedding anniversary... At some point of time, I could totally kick back, relax and throw work out of the window (I didn't mention earlier that, when we just checked in and the surprise was unveiled, I received a phone call from work and i spent the next hour or so texting my colleagues).

Margarita for the lady, beer for the gentleman.

Straight after dinner, we headed back to the lounge chairs at the resort to await the sunset. I guess I don't need to say to much - I'll let the photo speak for itself.

We've chased down several sunsets together before, but I'd say the sunset that evening was exceptional. Thank you, for remembering the little things (not all the time, but it's good enough :))

Thank you for being everything you are to me.

I can't wait for all our anniversaries. 

The dowry chapter: The love to a daughter

Julie write:

"Something new,

Something old, 

Something blue, 

Something borrowed."

Growing up in a family with 2 other sisters, my parents never gave us the impression that they had a favourite child amongst the 3 of us; we were all brought up under the same broken canes, nagging sessions and iron fists. I guess we will never, as daughters, understand our parents' expectations of us until the day we step into their parental shoes ourselves.

To be frank, it's exciting to set our parents abuzz with wedding preparations. It's hard to miss that sparkle in their eyes when they rattle on about our Cantonese wedding traditions, popping tips and pointers to me on how to keep the practices alive yet simplified.

So it was finally dowry shopping day last Sunday with Daddy, Mummy and the Husband. Traditionally, the dowry is given to the bride by the groom's parents to show the bride's parents that their daughter has married into a good family. But it's the 21st century, and you can't stop 21st-century parents from buying their daughters dowry too. :))

Contrary to belief that you can derive greater buyback value from gold pieces bought from a prestigious jeweller, you are sorely mistaken. The buyback price of gold is very much dependent on the weight and quality of the gold, while brand and handicraft is a much smaller factor. After having window shopped at mainstream retailers like SK and Poh Heng, I could see the disparity in pricing after popping by Tin Sing Goldsmiths, a quaint jewelry shop at which my extended family has purchased jewelry from since I was a kid. My traumatizing first time at ear-piercing, the gold key from my late grandma for my 21st birthday and finally my wedding dowry - they've sold me the tangible goods with intangible meanings to them. The deal breaker is definitely how down-to-earth the staff are, to the extent that they're not dying to sell you their heaviest piece of gold but instead choose to listen to your requests and make recommendations accordingly. Maybe it's because we're regular customers, because they managed to give us a discounted price which sounded really auspicious. :)

I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, so all I'll disclose is that we chose an exquisite dragon-phoenix bangle and a simple necklace to match my kua on the actual day. "This necklace looks very 大方 (generous-looking) on the bride," the staff in Tin Sing joked. We had a good laugh and I actually wondered about the contextual/literal meaning of it all, but it almost felt like she was telling me this from the perspective of an experienced mother.