beloved bel

Our personalised little bags have arrived.  To be honest I thought they would be double the size so our bridal party could put their stuff in it and carry it to the venue.  Guess what - they turned out to be the size of candy bags haha to which I am gonna tell people to still use it anyway.  Make up, accessories or toiletries - anything that fits really. Yesterday I went down to this beautiful ribbon shop near Marylebone to get the ribbons for the flower bouquets.  Everything wedding related is so expensive and so Gabby and I will be doing the bouquets ourselves.  It's fun cos I get to go to the flower market to choose the flowers I like, as well as pick my own ribbons to wrap the stems with.  How fun! Everyone I meet is asking me how long more to go.  Counting down now, one more month!

Last Saturday I made a trip to Teddington to collect my bridal headband and bracelet.  So exciting!  Went with Marketa for a half day trip.  The train ride from Waterloo takes approximately 35min and the high street has so many pretty shops - made me want to buy everything! Gillian Million is such a beautiful shop selling all bridal accessories.  The first time I met Gillian Million for my hour appointment back in January, I brought along my bridesmaids for company (and fun).  We felt like princesses trying on everything in her special pretty room and taking photos.  I can't show you what I ordered, but here is a shot of some of the pretty stuff in her shop.  Incredibly expensive too.  There were a thousand things I want to own from her shop but alas... two is more than enough for me.

Nothing much to blog about this week because it's all about work, sleep, work.. I think I am slowly morphing into a workaholic.  Not by choice unfortunately.  I am beginning to feel how it really is working in an investment bank... even though the crisis is over and big corporate finance deals are coming in, banks are still having hiring freeze and it is so difficult trying to get approval even for one headcount.  So you can imagine with more work and limited resources, and people trying to keep their jobs safe by going all out to prove themselves...  not to mention regulators are clamping down hard on banks with al the rules and what-nots, we all are needed to come up with solutions and ways to be compliant to please the regulators.  With no choice I am pulled into this wave of non-stop buzz and competitiveness day in day out.  Which by they way if you are doing something related to regulations in the banking industry these days, you have an iron rice bowl...

I can't believe that after 5 years in London, this is the second wedding I have been invited to.  I guess 3rd time's lucky as they say cos the 3rd time would be MY own wedding - woohoo!!  Things are coming round together, we are both getting quite excited.  As I was telling my friends, I almost feel I could go into wedding planning full time.  It's such a happy job, and you are surrounded by happy people on the actual day although I do know it would be awful if you meet bridezillas who dictate every single thing.  Just for the record, I ain't no bridezilla :)  Anyway the point I wish to make across is: I suspect I am in the wrong profession. Ela is my good friend from work, and I was very happy to hear that Vik proposed to her last Christmas.  Last month they did a proper wedding back in India where he is from, and this time they needed to do the "legal bit" here in the UK.  They booked a beautiful room at the Chelsea Old Town Hall for the cerem...

In this case, it's more like "rush to the beach while the sun shines".  As expected it was a beautiful day although we were still a bit apprehensive when getting ready in the morning.  Safe to wear shorts or mini skirt?  "Better wear leggings" I told myself.  Never be safe about the weather in this country lol. We met the Geesons at East Croydon as Ben was driving.  Funnily halfway Ben stopped by this massive Chinese supermarket called Wing Yip which had so much Chinese stuff we were a bit disappointed we couldn't buy anything since we were going away on a day trip.  (Usually I would grab a packet of Pak Choi vegetables at any Asian supermarket.) We decided to go to Kent for the day.  The drive to Herne Bay and Whitstable was - as you can imagine - a pretty slow moving one since everyone was hitting the beach.  Even the train, which we hopped on at London Bridge station to East Croydon was towards Brighton, it was so packed we had to force our...

Two weekends ago was the annual Hillsong Colour Conference at Wembley Arena.  I was so looking forward to it because it was just much needed.  I needed a break from the 2 "W"s in my life: Work + Wedding.  Because it's a trek to Wembley from where I live, us girls booked a hotel room so we cut down on travel time.  It is such a good decision and it felt like a little holiday.  Some selah time out with the girl friends. Welcome to Colour 2013! Theme for this year's conference As usual, I hanged out with my Colour buddy Gabby and we shared a room.  This was like church camp but with a seriously cool factor.  We girls were pampered once again thanks to the boys at church who volunteered.  They brought our little suitcases up and down the stairs to the cloakroom.  They were the ushers, the cleaners, the photographers, whatever help that was needed, there would always be a volunteer round the corner.  What a great blessing they...

Love it that Bank Holidays are always on a Monday in this country.  It's our delayed Labour Day.  And guess what - they say it's gonna be the warmest day of the year on Monday!  (Repeatedly on the radio -  23deg guys, 23deg!)  Sales of BBQ stuff have rocketed this weekend.  I'm so excited although I don't know what we are gonna do yet! To kickstart the long weekend, look at what most office workers do when the sun is shining after work: Friday 6pm: I peered down from the 21st floor looking down at the crowd gearing up for the weekend Not a drinker myself (rather a shopper!), I arranged to meet Gabby on Regent Street to hit the stores.  I have to tell you that as much as we girls love shopping, this is the first time we both met to go shopping together.  I don't know why we didn't think of doing this much earlier?! Min look!  From macarons to t-shirts.  Love Laduree.  And yes I grabbed a t-shirt :) Yesterday K &...