9 days till Feejee

9 more days until I'm in Fiji!  That's counting today and Friday when I depart.

I can never tell when I'm supposed to start counting from.

And today's breaking news; Mrs Yam rang me at work especially to tell me Ant has won Silver at the SPG in Noumea!!

Initially I was going to let the call go to voicemail because the number said 'withheld'.  But I answered and after a very hesitant 'hello', and then confirmng it was indeed me, Mrs Yam started her exited rant about happening to tune in to the tv just in time to watch Ant be awarded silver in the SPG medal ceremony.

Very entertaining.  She's obviously very proud.

Catching up to yesterday's breaking news: the doorbell rang early in the morning just as I was putting on my shoes to go to work.  I opened the door and it was the postman!  He had a massive box addressed to 'tony yam'. 

One of Ant's Sydney relatives had emailed asking for his Melbourne address so that she could post the wedding gift instead of taking it to Fiji. 

I opened the box when I got home later that night (after first checking with Mrs Yam and Ant) and saw.....

Pic on my brand new dual screen digital cam FYI.

Counting Down...

I'm counting down the days until I can be in Fiji!

Including today, I will leave for Fiji on the 10th working day, ie; Friday 9th after work.

My personalised hard candy from Suga were ordered last Wednesday and should be ready for pick up at their Queen Victoria Market shop by Thursday 8th.  That is cutting it quite close to when I fly out.

But with my siblings all departing at different times between the 9th and 22nd, the hard candy will definitely still make it's way to Fiji.

Last Friday Anthony departed with Team Fiji to Noumea to compete in Karate.  He jokingly said he paid all that money to fly all that way just for 2minutes of mat time, and the best outcome he could hope for was a Silver medal.

Sue posted this link to the Fiji Times; it was quite nice because that was the first contact I had with Ant since he left! 

He has since sent me two brief emails, the first saying he is unable to get a sim as it is only available in the City which is nowhere near the Games village.  That's poor organising on Noumea's part!

Menu Symbolism

In May I blogged about the food tasting Anthony and his family had at Restaurant 88 for our menu.

Don't remember? Click here

Shark's Fin Soup - this contains expensive ingredients; which signifies the future prosperity of the marriage

Fish - the Chinese word for fish, (魚) , yu, sounds like the word for riches or abundance, and it represents hope hat the couple will experience a life together with abundance

The fish must also have a head and tail. This signifies that all projects that the couple engage in have a start and a finish, that come to a successful completion

Mushroom and vegetable stir-fry - mushroom has a very smooth texture when cooked after being soaked in water. It symbolises "smooth sailing" for the couple's relationship and close family ties.

Roast Suckling Pork - symbolises fertility

Prawns - in Chinese is pronounced "HA" - the sound of laughter. You eat prawns to generate more laughter and happiness amongst friends

Noodles are a symbol of longevity in Chinese culture. Noodles are long and symbolises long life

Lobster and chicken together indicates that the dragon and the phoenix are harmonious together.

Duck – symbolizes fidelity.

Red is the colour for happiness so serving Peking duck and lobster would signify joy and celebration.

Rice - a large dish of rice symbolises a plentiful supply of food throughout the couples life

Half up, Half down

Yesterday Leny was kind enough to cancel all her committments and devote her entire Sunday to my hair.

She tried two different hairstyles and we loved the second one!

It's similar to this pic.  I'm going with the demure and casual look, and just a little fancy.  It'll have a head band (we tried a thin band of pink pears and a thin band with a cute bow - both looked amazing!!)

This is a picture of my pink freshwater pearl ear rings I bought from Cash Converters for a bargain!

It was priced at au$130 but because I joined as a Jewellery Club member, it was reduced to au$105.

This shows impuluse buying works!

More wedding prep

Ant went back to Fiji today after a brief 7 day visit.

He arrived last week Wednesday 3rd at 11:30pm (meant to be 9:15pm but was delayed).  This morning he was at the airport by 6:30am for his 9:30am flight.  Surprise suprise, it was delayed by almost an hour.

I took two sick days off work so that we could hang.  On the other three work days that I actually went to work, he came to the city to meet me for lunch and dinner.  What I've learnt from that lesson: I would not want to be the one working while my husband stays home!!

We got onto some last minute purchases such as napkin rings and yellow serviettes.

His mum initially wanted me to find a paper wishing well but they've now decided to try build a giant version of our favour boxes.  I think that's a pretty cool idea!

We also need to find a cake topper and an ebay search led to the discovery of personalized figurines!!

These incredibly unique figurines cost us$75 for the pair and postage is us$29.  They're about 16cm.  I am eager to put in an order but my main concern is the seller has quoted the whole process, including delivery, between 18 -21 days.  This is pushing it for our Sept 24th wedding date!

Also I don't want to take away from our gorgeous cherry blossom cake that Mrs Hansji is going to bake.  But at the same time it'll look so cool!

bon bons

Now that my guest Joanne has left, I have time to stop eating and actually put in a blog entry!

I find that I'm forever eating when people come to visit.  It's an excuse to not have to cook.

Soon it will be time for me to order my hard candy from Suga.

I think we'll go with just our names and love heart in the centre. 

We could go with the below option where we choose our own symbol.  The disadvantage of that is we there may not be space for our names.  And it costs about $50 more.  I'd rather have our names displayed.

Suga's website says I need to place my order 2 weeks beforehand.  That's perfect - I'll order just before I'm due to fly to Fiji.

Hopefully it won't melt once I land.