Maybe baby.

So I've returned my wedding dress. Donned the golden band. Shared my space with a boy. It's just a matter of time before the likes of the Spanish Inquisition come barging on my already-married door, demanding: "Ok, where's the baby?"

We want kids. That's something we established before getting married, along with "No more than two pets" and "Okay, only ONE room in the house will be pink." And my biological clock isn't just tick tocking. It's bang booming. I get all weak in the knees when I see tiny people clothes and even tinier shoes. I love the smell of baby powder. And I can't waiting to have an extension of us. A Melihaw. Doesn't help that peers around me are shooting babies out like fireworks on the Lunar New Year.

But recently, a tiny, whimpering voice in my head pleaded to me, "Wait just a liiiiitle bit more, ok?" and I felt a twinge of guilt. You see, as much as I can't wait to be a parent, I'm also itching to do other things before committing to such responsibility. Haw and I are working on our business plan, something that's going to take every inch of dedication at the moment and Project House means we're getting down and dirty on building our dream home. On top of that, I still have an itch to travel, just a bit more, before baby makes three. And yes, I know you can still travel with kids in tow but - ask any parent out there - it's not quite the same. I'm sorry if this is selfish but I'd still like to travel without worrying if there's a Happy Meal at the next stop or if the 7 Eleven sells diapers.

And yet, I don't know if I'm pushing my luck with waiting too long. What is 'too long' anyway? Six months? A year? Ideally, I'd like to have two kids but, if one spontaneously sexy night that involves the sentence "Don't worry, I'll be careful" leads to another, three is fine too. All I know for now is that I still need time to settle in with being a Mrs. Being a Mommy might take just a bit more time. But you know what they about Murphy and his law...

Married - For sho!

The photos have arrived! So here, forever immortalised, are some (the whole collection is like beribu-ribu lemon...Can't post 'em all up!) of the excellent shots taken by our photographer for the day, Anna-Rina Rahim. Looking at these pics, Haw and I still can't believe we finally pulled it off. Blood, sweat and oh-the-tears, it all paid off! This post is also dedicated to my family and friends who made the day nothing short of special. Enjoy!
*Warning: Photos aplenty to follow.

My dresses and shoes were custom made by Pretty In White.

My cat Blanket unfazed by the day's events.

The husband and the Best Man

My bridal party -in pink of course. Thank you my sayangs for layaning my pinkiness!

We did the traditional Filipino rites during the mass as a tribute to my Filipino heritage.

My cousins from Manila, Sydney, Melbourne and Jakarta all came down for the wedding. It's been ages since we all got together.

The Leong cousins and their plus ones - Thank you for being awesome. Couldn't have done it without you :)

I love this shot of cha-poh and my sister in law, Huey Huey :)

My sister Carmen and her husband Nick during the Chinese Tea Ceremony.

Would you believe the boys wouldn't jump so we had to get the girls to jump on the bed? It's part of a Chinese tradition to encourage, er, the multiplication of the family, haha.

We had to put on the 'cheese' as Anna-Rina says it :)

We gave measuring spoons to each guest with "A spoonful of love" engraved

A photo board at the ballroom foyer with pics of us, family and friends.

Walk and wave? Please, what are we, the Royal Family? We danced to Smashmouth's "I Can't Get Enough Of You Baby" during our entrance, accompanied by our friends!

Haw performed with his band, 4AG, that night. Rock on!

Surrounded by great friends all day long!

My Monash buddies - thanks for coming down to KK peeps. Me so touched.

Some things will never change :) Love you all.

Yo whaddup G?

Thanks for watching. Much love, Mel and Haw.

Food for thought.

Do nothing and be condemned. Do something but with criticism. Say nothing and be misunderstood. Say something and be misread.

They say sometimes it's better to have done than to be left wondering 'what if'.

But some days - most days - I find it better to just sit back and do absolutely nothing. Because seriously, how can you mess up if you don't do anything at all?

The Graveyard Book

I haven't raved about a book in a long time (or blogged for that matter) but here I am, oozing with love for Neil Gaiman's 'The Graveyard Book'.

I am strong believer that the best books literally just come your way when you least expect it and this was the case for The Graveyard Book. Selina had mentioned in passing about Gaiman and I figured, why not check this book out? That was more than 2 months ago. Last Friday, I finally got my hands on this book and all it took was the first page and I was completely hooked (okay I didn't mean for that to rhyme). It tells of a young boy, later named Nobody Owens or 'Bod' by his adoptive parents, who decide to give him a home after his whole family is murdered. The interesting twist? His new 'family' are a bunch of ghosts and his new home is the graveyard. And so Bod grows up having the 'Freedom of the Graveyard' where he roams as the only living being. Gaiman is a true literary genius - not only is his storyline riveting but his characters are a breath of fresh air, enveloped in originality. From the ghost of a drowned witch who turns out to be quite the unexpected ally to the antagonistic character simply known as The Man Jack - twisted, creepy and just plain evil.

I won't give away too much of the plot but for the first time in a long time, I finished a book in less than a day! I fell in love with Bod and his depressing albeit charmed life. But most of all, I think I fell in love with Gaiman for his dry humour, quick wit and seamless storytelling. Well, he is British after all:
And not bad looking at all, eh? I heard that a movie is in the works but am still doing my research on this. Again, I fear it might not do justice to the book (cases in point: Kiss the Girls, Memoirs of a Geisha, The World According to Garp...I could go on). Fingers crossed. Oh and if he sounds familiar, Gaiman brought you the bestselling 'Coraline'. What can I say - he's so brilliant he makes me want to live in a graveyard.