Health is Wealth

Remember when I had surgery a year ago to remove a cyst? Immediately after that, my gynae had put me on an induced menopause so that my body has enough time to heal and rest post surgery. His concern was that my regular menstruation might trigger a regrowth and it would be such bad news to have me sliced up again so soon after my first surgery.

It was quite a roller coaster ride during my induced menopause. I mean, I'm only in my mid 20's and I'm already getting first hand experience on what my mom would be going through. The benefits that I enjoyed were to quit buying sanitary pads, clear skin and not having to worry about a regrowth for at least one year. Bet my husband wouldn't agree that it was a walk in the park, because he was bearing the brunt, or rather, wrath of my uncontrollable emotional meltdowns. They were powerful, uncontrollable and constant, believe me. I no longer question the ability of a middle-aged woman to control her emotions because I've been through it. 

The effects from the injection stayed in my body for about as long as my gynae had predicted. He did say that some of his patients had gone back to their normal period cycle quicker than he had expected. So my uterus went to sleep for about a year and got back up to its normal working condition at the month right after my wedding. Talk about good timing. I'm glad it came back only after the wedding because I didn't have to worry about WHAT IF MY PERIOD CAME WHILE I WAS WEARING THE MOST IMPORTANT WHITE DRESS OF MY LIFE?? The worst thing that happened was my face went into this crazy breakout phase ever since my period came back. So after experiencing an early menopause, I'm now reliving puberty all over again.

I didn't change my skincare routine too much because I was using the same products from before. I've been eating so much more healthier than I already had been and my skin's still going crazy. I've been asked to go for facials more regularly to see if it helps.

It's pure havoc on my forehead and nose. I tried to look up some references online and most diagrams tell me that the area between the eyebrows is related to my liver and the nose is related to my heart. I really don't know what to make out of that. I've been struggling with indigestion and constipation since I was really young and have been taking steps to manage that. So can someone please tell me how I can help my buddies, namely the liver and heart? Note that my eye circles are so dark - that is also from childhood and should be due to my sinus. Blocked nose and mucus are my best friends ever since I can remember.

One of my friends have been updating on Facebook about this liver cleanse that she did. Basically you go on a detox and expel liver and gallstones that are trapped in those organs. I followed her lead and did a liver cleanse two weeks ago and although it was really difficult, I'm glad I did it for my body. Take a look:

Scary stuff, eh? These are mostly gallstones that are pushed out of the gallbladder. Although this detox is called a liver cleanse, liver stones aren't that common. The analysis of my stones indicate that I'm a typical modern human being, as it is green, but also with the likelihood of my liver not being able to process fat and cholesterol. It might explain why I have oily scalp and excess sebum on my face, but my pimples are still here so it could take a few more cleanses before I can blame it on my liver. I was quite gung-ho about wanting to do a few cleanses before I started the detox, but I think I'm going to stick to once every six months (as advised by my nutritionist) because it is quite challenging. I've had to really watch what I eat during the weeks leading to my detox. I only had natural yoghurt with fresh fruits and organic nuts for lunch two weeks prior and have replaced whatever I can into organic products. The reason for being so tired doing this detox was because I had to go clean my colon before and after. It's a fairly easy and quick process but it does make me feel tired because, guess what, I have constipation. But if it's something that will help ease the liver cleanse, then I will have to do it. The liver cleanse only takes a day but the stuff that you need to take can really test your gag reflex. Try to imagine chugging a glass of pure lemon juice mixed with olive oil. Yeah, it wasn't easy for me actually doing it. It was also tiring for me when it came to the time when you're supposed to 'output' the stones because again, I have constipation. But it's good results because my friend who did her liver cleanses told me that I have more stones pushed out than her. Yay?

I've also cut out a lot of processed food. I have homemade bread every morning, made with ingredients that I get from the organic shops. I'm not one to preach about going all out on organic living but I guess replacing whatever we can could go a long way. I've also been really good about eating free range chickens and eggs. The hormones that we put in chickens just goes back into my body and screws it all up.

I'm not sure what else I can do to help improve my skin problems but I guess I'll have to just keep doing what I do, or else it could be much worse. 

Our Wedding

My last post was about how I was coping with a lot of things going on a few months ago - work, house renovations, packing+moving+unpacking, wedding preparations and just life in general. I know I've said that I will blog about our wedding as soon as I got photos back from the photographer but I didn't do it straight away because I can get away with procrastinating since I don't have a gazillion blog followers :p

Our wedding was back in June. We had the Chinese tea ceremony in the daytime and a wedding dinner reception at the town nearest to Mr Bun's hometown. If we had it our way, well maybe my way, we might have had another dinner reception at KL since I'm from here and Mr Bun's been based here for some years now. But we decided against it after all, because we were financially tight while putting our house together at the same time as planning for our wedding. It's not worth it to get even more tangled in a financial mess just so we could have fun with friends and acquaintances for one more night. The ones who care enough to share this big milestone of ours shall travel a 5-hour return journey just to share a toast with us. Muahahaha...

Most of the preparations for our wedding were DIY. We also skipped out on the cheesy wedding bits like prewedding photography. I absolutely can't get over the fact that people willingly get ripped off by bridal houses to take photos in cheesy poses, get a bunch of framed oversized photos which end up gathering dust and live happily with the fact that these photos have such ridiculous powdery-face effect. But I do like it when once in a while I see friends who have tasteful prewedding photos. It's such a breath of fresh air. I did my own hair and makeup, with assistance from Mr Bun for curling my hair for my evening look. I got two bunches of tulips from my usual florist in Pudu and put together my own bridal bouquet. There was no way I could get a decent bouquet for less than RM200, and it could be even more expensive had I requested for tulips. So I took it into my own hands and it ended up less than RM100. Made cute bowties for the groomsmen to go with my bridesmaids' mint green dress theme since I couldn't find anything that I wanted from the shops. I stayed away from pink dresses because it would be too obvious for me to choose pink for the bridesmaids' dresses. The games for the boys were all set by me too. I'm such a control freak that I have to lay it all out myself but obviously the girls had to execute the plan for me. I'm not a fan of disgusting or distasteful games so the games were quite tame. Mostly aimed towards the groom but it's up to the girls to make it difficult for the rest of the boys. I'm glad they all had fun because most of us are friends from our uni days. The best part was when I whipped out old videos from back in the day for Mr Bun to re-enact as part of the games.

Since we were on what people would call a simple direction (compared to a standard Chinese wedding), it was almost drama-free. The most dramatic moment was when my family acted like typical KL-ites, arriving late and we could only do our walk-in to the restaurant and start after they had arrived. Wedding dinners in small towns are usually quite on time, not exceeding 30 minutes from the time you have printed on the invitation. It's quite un-Malaysian-like.

Mr Bun and I were like deers in the headlight while we were on stage, not giving a proper thank-you speech to everyone who deserved it. But I hope everyone knows how much we truly appreciate their help; big, small or anything in between. I think if we had a chance to change one thing from our wedding, I would re-do my thank-you speech. Everything else was a dream, despite some teeny tiny hiccups along the way. Enough talk, time for photos!!

Making it official tomorrow

I haven't been updating because I was swamped with a new job, moving into a new house and preparing for my wedding. So far we've lived at our new nest for little less than a month and the big day is tomorrow. 

I haven't got good news about my current job because my present employers have put me in a very difficult position due to their inability to be clear of they wanted when they made me an offer. So on top of my stress cake of moving and getting married is a big fat juicy cherry of having to look for a new job. But unlike the past, I am now choosing to move away from asking "Why is this happening?", and picking myself up to walk on a new path. I shall not be bothered by idiots who made the decision to hire a rookie and then dropping it all without even providing any useful coaching. As much as I was worrying a few days ago about whether I could find a new job, I'm hopeful. It took some sobbing sessions to arrive at a slightly more positive stage but I'm glad I can move on.

So... I gotta keep my nerves in check for my big day tomorrow. I shall be updating with photos but we don't have Internet at our new place. The good news is, I saw TM contractors laying down the cables yesterday and it should be available in a month or so. Yippee!! I'm beginning to like this positive thinking thing.

February so far

I've been jobless for more than a week now since I resigned from my job on the last day of January. I'm not really jobless since I have a new position to report to come beginning of March, but I have three weeks off before I embark on a new career journey. Three glorious weeks!! So far it's been filled with days well spent with family and friends over Chinese New Year celebrations. The timing couldn't be any more perfect. I'm also cramming in opportunities to go out looking for stuff that I need for our house. Who knew even a minor thing like curtains could turn out to be something totally major? Now I realise that the devil is in the details and I'd better get things sorted out while I still have time.

We usually go back to Mr Bun's hometown for up to a week during CNY but he doesn't have that privilege this year. So we only spent three days, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days of CNY back at the kampung. Kinda glad for the fact that we didn't have to get caught in the pre and post CNY mad traffic. I spent the first two days cooking, which got me thinking if I want to do this again next year (I guess I can overlook the fact that it's super tiring since it's a once-in-a-year affair). 

I'm not a big baby-hugger type of person but here I am caught in one of those rare heartwarming moments. This is the 3rd niece from Mr Bun's family and here she looks like a super adorable baby zombie trying to chew me alive.

Been spending some time lepaking at home while Mr Bun is at work over CNY. But we did manage to have a nice meal on Valentine's Day. No flowers, gifts and shiz because we never got into the silliness of those stuff. Just spending some quality time with each other will do :D We had dinner at this quaint restaurant called Taste Gallery at Bandar Mahkota Cheras and their molten lava cake is the best letmetellyou!!

My second elder brother had his registration of marriage two days after Valentine's Day. It was at the NRD in Putrajaya, the same place where I had mine. Back then they weren't open on Saturdays but now they are. We spotted a few hot-air balloons from the public carpark and walked over for some photo-op after the registration do but they were calling it a day. It was a MAKNA private event and how I wish I could've snuck in a little earlier. They had free helicopter rides!! ARGHGHGHGH :(

This really happened. You can't disagree that there is a resemblance.

Snuck in a few lou sang makans with different groups of friends and here I am with my girlies from PESS. That's Baby Cherish, who is the 2nd baby of the group. Wonder who will is next in line to be a babymomma?

Joanna's Wedding

Last weekend was an opportunity for our group of UTAR yumcha geng to travel to and meet up in Malacca for Joanna's wedding. Few of us girls were roped in as bridesmaids so we had to arrive the night before her wedding day. Since it's been a while from my last visit to the bone-adjusting uncle in Malacca town, Mr Bun and I decided to drive down in the afternoon so I could drop by for a session. It would be wise to avoid the weekend rush hour drive down south as well, and our thoughts were proven right when I read all the posts and tweets about how horrendous KL traffic has turned due to the heavy downpour last Friday. We spent the few extra hours in Malacca town watching Les Mis and it was such a horrible experience, no thanks to uneducated individuals who didn't know it was a musical and started giggling everytime a sentence was sung as well as the little bitchy brat who kept moving in her seat as if she was seated on a sofa at home. The drive to Joanna's hometown was a challenging experience, and I was so glad when we finally arrived!

Sweet bridesmaids in peach

The groom arriving

First order of the day: Being served with breakfast for champions - Warm Carlsberg with a straw

Aunties and uncles from the groom's entourage took over at one point and finished off the warm beer. Their excuse was that there were roadblocks along the way on small Malacca town roads on a Saturday morning O.o

The bouquet toss! I was forced to participate although technically I'm married and the bouquet was destroyed on the first toss since no one really wanted to go and catch it. The bride had to forcefully aim it for someone to catch on the second attempt. Haha!

We decided to rent a homestay in Malacca for one night after the wedding dinner since we all hadn't met in a while and could catch up for an extra few hours while everyone was in town together. Lin's Cottage was a nice, clean double-storey house located within 2-minutes walking distance from Ban Lee Siang satay celup (apparently it's one of the more famous satay celup places apart from Capitol). However I have one big bone to pick with the owner; we weren't informed of an additional longstay guest prior to the booking and during check-in. There were 4 rooms available for all of us and we were all curious about this 5th room after we checked in but the door was locked. We only found out when a few of us returned home after midnight and saw the lights in the downstairs room switched on and shadows of a person walking around in the room. I was the first person to wake up in the morning and saw the main door left open. I don't have to tell you that we wouldn't be a happy lot if anything went missing had we left anything precious in the living room. To make matters worse, we weren't given individual room keys and were told that our belongings would be safe as we travelled in a group of friends and we wouldn't steal each others' belongings O.o

Look what we found! An old school OHP to project the seating arrangements :D

Disclaimer: We didn't coordinate our outfits.

My favourite part of a Chinese wedding dinner.

If I had to give proper credits to this woman, Shanice over here, I would have to admit that she indirectly played cupid to Mr Bun and I. She basically forced me to go on a trip to Redang after our final year examinations back in uni and that's how Mr Bun and I became friends. But we didn't develop feelings for each other until we left uni and started working in the cruel world.

My girl, Joanna and her husband. You know you chose a good man when he is willing to help carry your drunken friend to the car and back to home AND gives up his bedspace. In case you're wondering, the terbabas friend was yours truly. Man, I'm old and had no idea how low my alcohol tolerance has dropped.

Camwhoring session before we checked-out for lunch and bid each other farewell. The next gathering would be at my wedding later this year. Final group photo obviously stolen :P Courtesy of Chin.