Conservations with husband #1

Bits & pieces that make life with this man so rewarding..

*chatting with husband on him considering changing job*
Me: "Dear, you are not considering joining the police force? I mean, you told me about it before.. and I think it's great if your work allows you to get more active, running here and there haha.."
Him: "Hmm.. What if I have to detain those karaoke hostesses, then they will tell me 'Officer, I do anything for you if you let me go.... hehehe..."
Me: "OK forget it, cannot be police officer!"

*on selecting furniture for our future house*
Me: "I think, I don't want to have a sofa.. we'll have different kinds of chairs in the living room.."
Him: "Nooo... Then how can we make love on the sofa...."
Me: -_-"

On Married Life

Well, obviously after we recently got married, the first question on everyone's lips upon seeing us again is, "So.. how's married life?"

To be honest, I first heard that question from my parents, and somehow.. since my dad/mom kind of kept asking me despite repeated response of, "We're fine Dad, Mom, feels good now that no more wedding planning stuff", I suspect what they REALLY wanted to ask was, "How are you & Bryan getting it on making babies? Is everything alright in that department?" ><

App recommendation: Simply Us

Wedding is about co-ordination, co-ordination, co-ordination (Well it's about flowers & cupcakes too but someone's gotta co-ordinate those!).. And at least one other person has to really be at the same page as you: The Fiance. Early on, I was a bit irritated as I was the one handling a lot of the appointments for the wedding vendors (meet photographer, meet hotel manager, etc) and sometimes he'd schedule to meet his buddies when I had not yet told him I need him on one Wednesday night, for example, or one of us simply forgot that we need to keep certain times free because we have wedding-related  appointments.

Would like to recommend one iPhone app that really helps with that. It's not a wedding app, but more of a calendar + organizer app, called SimplyUs. (And it's free for iPhone!)

Both phones download the app, then one of you invite the other to join the same SimplyUs platform, and voila!

First, you have the activity page where there are notifications of recent events added/ edited (and you'll get push notifications too, if your partner adds/ edit events:

One useful feature is that you can comment straight away below the event notification.

Breakdown of the Bride

Well, I did break down at different points of the wedding planning stage >< If you are a bride-to-be, just tell yourself that this is normal.... Wedding planning is such a roller-coaster of feelings!

In this post, I'd like to literally break down my feelings from the beginning to the process to the moments just before the wedding.. Brace yourself, readers!

10 - 9 months before wedding - just after proposal
Blissful feeling of 'Ah, the wedding's still a long way..more than enough time..'. Sparkle hypnosis induced by staring at engagement ring throughout the day. Browsing the internet for pretty wedding decor photos naively unaware of how much they cost. Finally started looking at Sg bridal magazines and got rude shock at how ridiculously bridal paraphernalias are!

Post wedding reflection

Being a bride-to-be... is, IMHO, one of the most stressful times of a woman's life >< That's also why I stopped blogging as the wedding day gets closer - thinking about one aspect of the wedding would set me off to think about all the other aspects not done yet and induce more stress. Not to mention, juggling work & wedding planning doesn't exactly leave time for blogging.

But! All's been done! And strangely it is now that I have a strong urge to blog about things so brides-to-be still in the midst of full on planning would benefit from it. Especially, those who doesn't have a wedding planner! ><

Firstly, keep in mind: All these will pass! And if you're doing this practically yourself, without a planner, the sense of achievement & ego boost in the end is pretty huge ;p

However, during the wedding planning itself, for me it was a lot of intense, shifting emotions, namely:

Choosing your wedding make up artist

In the earlier days of wedding planning, I thought a make-up artist (MUA) is one item I can save $$ on.. being not big on make-up, I thought it's most important that the make up be comfortable and natural, and that means I need less make-up = no need such a pro make up artist = save $$.

The Weekend Marriage a.k.a Be Busy, But Keep Lovin'!

Fuh. Wedding day in 4 months' time. The wedding planning is going well, and the marriage planning is, well, is consisting of me summoning up fears then trying to logically quench them one by one.

Chief amongst those fears, is the fear that the awesome relationship I have with Fiance right now, the beautiful spark that we keep between us, will die a miserable death once marriage, career, kids *shudder* take their toll. Precisely because we know that a great relationship needs a lot of time and energy, I am afraid of... what will happen when we reach a phase in life where we have neither time, nor energy..?

Well, for now, it seems my fears have been allayed by this book, "The Weekend Marriage - Abundant Love in A Time Starved World."

 

 Yea, I know. Difficult to say if reading a book will really help me for a future I'm not even sure about, but hey, at least it kind of gives me a game plan, AND tell me it's possible. For my readers who are currently in a busy, busy relationship (being in Singapore, if you're not in a busy, busy relationship, then there's SOMETHING WRONG >< ), below are some tips from the book that hopefully might help.

 First off, the author pleads for a change of mindset. Getting increasingly irritated at your spouse? Feeling that all there is in your relationship is anger, hurry, pressure, arguments? Wondering if the person you loved has changed? Stop short of blaming your partner and instead, understand that perhaps, not only do you have less time together, the 'bad stuff' -arguments, misunderstandings, irritability - is crowding out the good times you used to have.  It's also because, when you started out, when you have disagreements, there is time to work things out, to talk things through, to heal... but increasingly when you have no time, you'll say, "We resolve things tomorrow".. while what actually happens is that problems and resentment build up waiting for that 'one day' that never comes. The author's variation of Murphy's law: "The less time you have together, the more things go wrong in your relationship."

So then, it's not you or your partner's fault, it's a time-pressure monster you are facing together called 'The Weekend Marriage' (I kid you not, this is the concept. But hey, it's a good one, to stop blaming each other and instead gear up to face a common enemy.) 

What to do next? Here are some steps to tackle that monster:

1. The FIRST PRIORITY is to schedule time to recharge each your batteries

Take care of yourselves first, since you won't be able to give to your spouse unless you actually have something to give.

2. Create one true connection a day

Understand that, in a weekend marriage, there's too much potential for irritations and too little time to solve every problem, and most often the prevailing feeling is one of disconnection. So start making an effort to really connect every day.. just one gesture, it doesn't have to be difficult or long. Maybe slower, longer kiss before work instead of a quick peck (45 secs instead of 5 secs!), or asking "Hey, how have you been feeling these days?" and really pay attention to the answer. Realize that, couples in a weekend marriage can't afford to put off connecting until they "have time", and instead have to make each moment count.

3. Abundant sex in a time-starved world.. how to do it with no time??

. . . . this is probably the only issue I've raised that Fiance is paranoid about, when we have kids haha (For the other ones, he was able to remain calm and tell me, 'we'll think about it when the time comes.. so why this one cannot remain calm? >< ) . .well there's a whole chapter in the book, but one of the concepts that I really like is, changing your mindset about a 'quickie'.. Most often, the concept of a 'quickie' is a quick intercourse where the guy would be physically satisfied, but it could leave one/both parties physically and emotionally unsatisfied as well. (Ahem, btw, I have no experience yet, quickie or no quickie, so this is based on internet research >< ) But hey, a quickie can be an 'intimacy quickie' too.. Maybe just hugging each other, having a shower together, cuddling together.. and this will help a couple connect so that when they do manage to have sex, it creates an even deeper connection as well.

4. Train yourself to make connections even when problems are simmering, even when you are mad at each other.

For this one.. I gotta say that Fiance is better at it than me, and it is really powerful stuff. Several times, when we were arguing, even when clearly I was mad at him and said hurtful stuff, he would do things like, hug me close, or say things like, "I want to work through this with you", "If we hurt each other so deep, that's because we care so much about each other." Those times when I was mad at him were also the times I felt so, so deeply connected to him and assured of his commitment to the relationship.

Hm, still lots of -IMHO -nice relationship gems inside the book, but I'll stop writing for now. Will follow up with another article soon!