Dear best friend,

I am unsure of how to begin this note. Most of our conversations are never words, rather actions: a smile between note-taking; looking at each other over cups, your coffee clutched in jittery hands and my earl grey whispering steam; a tug at the corner of your shirt to pull you back from the oncoming traffic while jaywalking. The few words we do exchange are formal. Hello. How’s Your Day Been Going. What Time Is It. To the world we are strangers accidentally drawn to each other by an inexplicable gravitational pull that keeps us joined at the hip, yet completely autonomous.

Love can only go so far.

Best Friend, I came here with the unfamiliarity of words. This bulky, unwelcome present is yours to keep. May this present never collect dust. May you keep polishing this present, that is, my prayers and advice till they’ve been worn down to create a groove where your heart fits perfectly.

I don’t have a reason why I wrote this other than I was thinking of you today. I was thinking how wonderful you are. You are such a good friend to me. You are my sister and I love you. I look back at when we first met in high school. Who would have known, we would still be so tight? People have come and gone in and out of our lives but we remained best friends. Through ups and down, arguments and sad times, nothing has been able to come between us. I just want you to know that I thank you for your loyalty, your friendship, your love. I know I have been guilty at times of not being the best I could be as a friend, but you’ve been so forgiven. I love you for that. When I met you in high school, I realize right away that you had a sweet personality, a wonderful sense of humor and a heart that draws people to you.

Hopefully it is something you will read with a smile, make you cry, and keep for a very long time. This took me a few days to write, and it came from my heart. You always make the right decision and always think before you speak. Those are two key ingredients to the perfect friendship. With our friendship comes one guarantee, what happens to you happens to me. If you are ever sad, I am sad for you, if you are ever excited, I am also excited.

When I talk to you, it’s like shelter, just hearing your voice makes my day shine. Yesterday brought the beginning, tomorrow brings the end, and somewhere in the middle we became the best of friends. You have no idea how happy I am that we are best friends. I would do anything for you and I know you would do the same for me. No matter where life takes us, you will always be in my heart and on my speed-dial. You are truly my best friend, through thick and thin, through all our fights, I hope you know that I will always love you like a sister and there is nothing in this world that could ever change that.

Well, it is now a trend in any wedding to have a photo booth of their own. Be it DIY or hire a wedding planner to set them up. I find it....as optional actually. But to add on the fun in any wedding, photo booth will be a great one. If you have the $$$ to splurge, you can just hire someone to do it for you. But if you're the kind who's on a budget, it's not that hard to set one up, like me.

Well, I find ideas for my wedding mainly from Pinterest. Thanks to the World Wide Web and Google. Hahaha. I want to have this mix theme at my wedding, traditional Malay+traditional Chinese plus some slight Western theme to it. So I've decided to make my own photo booth props. Well, knowing myself as a not-so-creative person, I wonder how my props will turn out to be. Insyallah.

If you ask me whether I'm freaking out or not, yes I am. Because there are tonne of things to do even though I'm already near perfect in organizing this event. I set appointments and booked dates just to make sure that I don't get the dates mix up. HIV test, ROM forms and so on. Now I know why every bride is called Bridezilla. Feels like it's a never ending process.

Well, 1 thing for sure, our wedding cards has been ordered for both sides which I'm quite happy with the design I have chose.

I've decided to go with lace for my ROM change. My mum was the one who suggested actually. The initial choice was chiffon. It was a good choice to change to lace as lace has this soft hue look to my ROM dress. Since I wanted a simple but rustic look for my ROM, lace it is.

My last trip to Putrajaya was in 2008 during my graduation day for my bachelor's. My best friend, Alla attended as well. But this time, the trip will be a different one. Firstly, it will be to buy my bridesmaid and my MC's attire. Secondly, it was supposed to be Hen's dinner with some other friends but it was canceled. The flight ticket was purchased before they cancel the plan still I had to proceed anyway.

Since I had to change my plan and Rozaimi tagged along, we decided to have lunch in Bumbu Desa in KLCC. OOhhh, I have found my bridal heels with lace for the groom side. I'm one happy kid again. I believe it was purely luck. Food was good. I think it was also because of the company. KLCC was crowded and we spent like the whole day, since morning and we were charged RM26 for the parking ticket. No sweat.

By 5pm we headed to KLIA as Rozaimi's flight to Alor Star was at 8. After that, me and Alla went Alamanda for dinner at Noodle Station. I wanted to find a short handle handbag as I don't have one yet. But I find that it is an unnecessary purchase, so decided to drop the intention of getting one. I thought it's better for me to save up some money and get a good one instead.

I had a really great time with them during the weekends. Couldn't ask more. To sum up everything:

As a hybrid myself, there are tonnes of 'weird' questions that people normally ask you and some I find it irritating.

See here on 12 Things You Should Never Say To A Mixed Person

Since Juan was in town. I decided to bring to the famous seafood restaurant in Perlis. The place were full with customers but we managed to get a seats for the 5 of us. We ordered 4 dishes including their famous Siam steam fish. It was just nice to accommodate the 5 of us.

It is not the fancy seafood restaurant that you can see in the big cities. It's just a small run-down shop operated by a family for more than 30 years. The shop smells old but I like. Even the shop looked old as well.

At this point of time, Juan and me have yet to decide where we'll be spending our honeymoon after the wedding. Why? First of all, we think that most of our savings will be spend on the wedding itself and leaves us with only some amount of money. Which is just nice to spend for a local vacation (from our rough calculation). So we discussed the other night, which leaves us with 3 options. 

Option 1

We'll spend our honeymoon in one of the many beautiful islands with crystal clear sea water around Malaysia. I wanted to get myself a diving certificate as well (if possible). 

Option 2

Visit  3rd world countries like Thailand (cliche), Vietnam, Indonesia and countries somewhat similar.

Option 3

We'll just go for a short getaway after the wedding. Somewhere near then save up some money for our Turkey plan. You see, Turkey has been the dream place for Juan. It's an East meets West country. You can see the architectures in Turkey are a lot like a hybrid of the Western culture applied into the Eastern culture. Very beautiful indeed.

Spending your years of savings on a wedding is just painful enough, nonetheless spending on a honeymoon. You have to be clear on what is you spending budget. Your definition of honeymoon can be either spending time legally in the hotel  as husband and wife throughout the getaway OR you both wants to do some interesting activities (it means that you'll spend less time in the hotel).

If you wish to do more of the outdoor activities, I suggest you rent a low cost hotel (as long as there are basic needs like bed, a clean shower room and save surroundings). This is because your room will only be a place to crash after a whole day of fun time. Remember, value for your money.

But...if you wish to cuddle with your spouse the whole day for the next 3 days, then you may consider renting a slightly higher end hotels where you're able to use the facilities. At least you make full use of the gym, swimming pool, sauna and whatever service offered in the hotel.