Wednesday, February 8, 2012

This is how he went down...on one knee.


It was the month of November, the month of my birthday and our anniversary.


At the same time, it was the season again. The season when he goes offshore/onshore hundreds of miles away.

Having been used to him travelling around for work and being absent on important dates, I have always prepared myself for the worst.

To give me a little comfort, he told me, "Don't worry, dear. I may not be around on our 7th anniversary, but I'll definitely make your birthday an unforgettable one. Plus, it's a special day- 20.11.2011!"

Since then, each time he was away, he'd cheer me up by reminding me that 20.11.2011 would be a special day. And that I would never forget that birthday.

Now, you must be thinking, "Careen, why didn't you see that coming?". I'm usually pretty sensitive to these silent plannings and such, but call it the 'divine blurring of God' or something, I really didn't have any suspicion when he said it would be a special birthday. 

I just thought that he was just being sweet as always, wanting to make my birthday special, just like how he did for the past 6 years. This sweetness had not been anything new. I know, I'm lucky :)

So, the day before my birthday, he told me to bring along my swimwear, and a nice dinner dress. Not knowing where he would be bringing me to, I just obediently followed his instructions. 

When asked what time he'd be picking me up, he said he wanted to give me ample time to rest, so he'll arrive at 11.30am, we'll go for brunch, then we'll start our day. Something in me felt a little disappointed that almost half of the day would be gone by the time we finished brunch. But the thought of not having to wake up early was too awesome that the initial disappointment quickly diminished :D

So I woke up at 11am #likeaqueen, packed my stuff, and hopped onto his car.

My mum and sisters asked me to enjoy my day, as they ALL knew what the plan was. In my mind, I was like, "Wah...so grand eh. Whole world knows..."


Still camhoring as usual, totally oblivious to what was in store for the day.


After brunch at my favorite Pan Mee place, I started asking where we were headed.

Since the only thing I brought were

1) My bikinis
2) My dress & heels,

I'd expected it to be a trip to Sunway Lagoon and dinner at some nice place after, since he had always wanted to make a trip there for a long time already. But, he drove past Sunway and headed to LDP! 

Then I thought, he must be bringing me to his (HIS!) favorite Hot Spring at Sungkai. At that point, I totally lost the mood.

FYI, I'm the type who loves to be relaxed and pampered on my special day. And the last thing I wanna do on my birthday is to queue with thousands of others at Sunway Lagoon, or be traumatized (again) by the UGLY GIANT OCTOPUS at the hot spring.

Credits: Google.com
My nightmare!!! I dislike Sungkai solely because of this!
Whoever came up with this octopus slide idea has got some really weird horror fantasy! Yucks!!!

Just when almost all my hopes were crushed, he turned into One-U instead, and parked at One World Hotel.

At that point, two questions popped up in my head:

1) Why are you bringing me to swim at One World Hotel?

2) WHY ARE WE GOING TO A HOTEL-MOTEL-HOLIDAY INN???


As we walked into the hotel, and as he was checking in at the counter, hundreds of other questions popped in my head.

"Mannn, what's going on?"
"Mann, how much is this gonna cost?"
"Mannn, what am I gonna tell my parents??"
"Wait, my parents KNOW!! They allow?? Really???!"
"Mannn, WHAT'S GOING ON???"
"Mannn, is my bf gonna rape me...ON MY BIRTHDAY???"
"...and my parents asked me to ENJOY MY DAY???"

Of course I know he wouldn't. But I watched and read too much about 'American teenagers raped and killed by boyfriend on prom night/valentine's/birthday', that I wondered if it would ever, EVER happen to me. Plus, he kept scaring me by telling me that he brought me to the hotel to rape me then sell me off. Which  is his tagline, all the time. 

I was actually more concerned about my parents. So I asked him if my parents knew about the plan. He said they knew about all the plans of the day, and proceeded to explain everything in detail.

"Well, you did mention to me before that your skin is becoming dry, so I arranged a spa/scrub session for you this afternoon...hopefully it'll help your skin."

*In my mind I was thinking, how is the scrubbing session gonna help my dry skin?? But I didn't interrupt...cos I was enjoying his sweetness :P

"Then you can take your time to prepare for the dinner. There's a nice bathroom and dresser for you to get ready in the room."

*He knows how I'm particular about clean bathrooms and proper dressers. And how I love to take my time to dress up.

"Plus, if you wanna nap also can."

*He knows I'm the Queen of Naps :P But of course I wouldn't wanna nap on my birthday! That's a complete waste of time!

"I have already made reservations for dinner, and after dinner, we come back here to enjoy the lounge k?"

*He knows I love all the live singing and drinking at lounges :))

"Your parents know about this, that is why, I have agreed to send you home tonight"

Me: Huh? You paid for the room but we're not staying over??
Boon: Yeap.

Okay, this makes more sense right now. I felt so bad that he paid so much just for me to have a nice place to get ready for dinner. But I gotta admit that it's really sweet of him :')

So yeap, instead of going to the spa, we went to walk walk and watch movie in One U instead. Cos I didn't wanna scrub my dry skin (hehe), and I don't wanna spend my birthday at the spa alone while he rots away.

So I took my time to get ready,


camhored, 





and brought my growling stomach for some pampering!


One thing that was pretty unusual was that throughout the day, he kept taking pictures of me.


Tamarind Hills!


See what I mean? He does take pictures of me but not this much! (Many more pics taken but I don't wanna bore you with my vanity shots) Yet, I didn't suspect anything. I think I was really blinded and feeling too fluffy to care :P



Throughout the dinner, he kept tweeting and checking tweets too!
This was so not him as it usually takes him days to realize I tweeted him. But well, I thought to myself that maybe he was just excited and happy that I enjoyed myself :)

It was a great dinner. Superb food & impeccable service :)

Duck and Lychee salad. With loads of chili padi in it! Not for the faint hearted!

Some totally awesome platter.

Yummy lobsters!

The best dish- tempura lamb or something. Superb! Best lamb ever.

And as usual, the bf just gotta feed me with vegs! He finished most of the mixed veg tho :P

The view from our hanging cabin
Throughout the dinner, he walked away to make/answer some phone calls. Since it was a usual thing for him to answer work calls on our dates, I didn't suspect too.

More camhoring after dinner...to stall time? ;)




Tamarind Hills is beautiful, and recommended for fusion food lovers!

So after the dinner, we headed back for a couple of drinks at the hotel lounge. I was walking towards the lobby lounge when he walked me towards another direction (I almost bumped into his friends that's why! More of that later on) and said, "Oh, they are giving hotel guests free drinks at Level 19."

Free drinks. Why not right? So we went up, but before that, he suggested we stop by to visit the swimming pool (To stall time again!). We went there and it was closed.

So we went back into the elevator to the Level 19 lounge (If it ever existed! I was conned all the way!), and he said, "Dear, I think we better go back to the room to check the brochures for the opening hours of the lounge, scared later closed, just like the pool, then waste time."

So okay, we walked towards the room, and as I was halfway talking, he opened the door and I let out a mild scream.


Taken from the hotel door peephole.

What greeted me was firstly, two human beings with a camera and video camera each, snapping and filming away. Yes, it was Adele and Jeff. I immediately knew that this was not as simple as just a birthday celebration. But then again I could be wrong, so I still didn't expect.


I was so surprised and blur that I almost walked onto the candles on the ground. My mind literally was on a cloud. It stopped working. I could not, and did not think. I was surprised, scared, nervous, and just basically lost in the situation. 

My heart basically lost its rhythm. It was offbeat and beating a million times faster than usual. The suspicion that maybe this is a proposal, as well as the play-safe-me who told myself not to expect made me feel all dizzy. I just told myself to keep walking (straight) and enjoy the moment...of this birthday celebration/maybe-proposal.


2011 was the 7th year that we had officially been together. So the bf thought of giving me 7 gifts who the year's anniversary present. This was the first of the 7 :)



To be honest, my mind was so lost that I could not really read the words on the card. I read, but I couldn't internalize the words. All I knew was that he made really touching promises :P I didn't even notice the color of the petals. Wait, I didn't even realize there were petals!

Boon must be thinking he shouldn't have spent hundreds on them now :P



He picked the cards, and I read them. Well, I really tried! :P



This is the "You're-so-cheesy-but-actually-I love-it" look.
Basically, it's the "tao-yen!" look :P


The Shu Uemura skin purifier/makeup remover was the second out of the 7 gifts.
When I saw that, I burst out laughing! The bottle was all oily and yucky, and the ultimate question is, "Who brought it from my bathroom??" :P





This is how the trail looks like. Now looking at it from a conscious and normal state, it spells effort and it's beautiful :)

The gifts were followed by my Shu Uemura Eye Shadow palette, Swatch, D&G perfume and a necklace.


The necklace was missing cos I was wearing it :)





Then, I was led to a huge heart of candles...to my 7th gift.


I was just "OMG-ing" the whole time.


With a box resting on a bed of petals.
At that point, I knew this was it. But I still couldn't believe it.


The proposal that I'd dreamed about since little and discussed amongst girlfriends, is here...for real.


I was too blur to even have a good look at the ring.
Boon had always threatened to propose with some rubber band or RM1.90 ring from pasar malam. So when I saw the ring, I burst out laughing.


I couldn't help it. I laughed also because I realized just what a good con man the bf was. Everything was so well-planned! See his guilty face there :P

He passed me a bouquet of flowers (which I later on realized were my favorite flowers), led me into the ring of candles, took the ring,


...and went down on one knee.



He held my hand firmly, and started answering my favorite question that I always throw at him (which he never answered),

"Why do you love me?"


I felt him shiver when he was holding my hand, and to know that he was making a public confession (with all the recordings around), I knew that he was taking a big step of faith, going out of his comfort zone...just so that he could marry me. 

"I love you because you complete me."

As cheesy as it sounds, I felt his sincerity. 

And that made me tear.


He asked me to marry him, I burst out laughing (again),

and I said "yes".







Shortly after, humans started popping out of the curtains (Boon's sisters), and the bathroom. Those humans were my sisters. All of them! :')




And more humans popped in from outside!



The now, excited fiancé screamed to all the humans who popped in, "She said yes! She said yes!!!", and went on cheering on his own.

I was taken aback by his hyper excitement and happiness. I'd never seen him this happy and excited. It made me realize just how much he wanted to make me his wife. That was priceless :')



My super long time friend, Joanne was there :')
Knew her since I was 9. She knew all my first crush stories.


My dear leaders, David & Shirley were both there too!
Thanks for making time for us. You both are the best :')


I dunno what made us look like that...hahah but I guess we were just happy :)


And then, they asked us to smooch.







My new best friend ;)



Boon's friends asked him to reenact the proposal as they were all outside and missed all the action. 


Pat Pitt and Chronicles :)


Checking out all the well wishes from all our friends. Thanks for taking time to make those videos. I really appreciate all of you :')


Jia Ying who waited for the good news and texted right after! As well as many other friends who texted, called, FB and tweet-wished us. Thank you all. I remember each and everyone of you, and I truly appreciate you :')


Long long long time friend :)



Boon's buddies since Primary + their other halves!



My CHCKL family :)


My sisters + new sisters :)


All of them did not just come to celebrate, but to help setup the whole room. Thanks for coming 2-3 hours earlier and staying throughout the whole night.














You guys are the best :)

Those beautiful photos were taken by our dear friend, Adele Ng. She never fails to capture priceless moments.

Thanks Adele :) Check out her page HERE!

The proposal video was shot by Jeff, the cousin. It'll be shown in the wedding :) Thanks Jeff!

Some behind the scenes photos.


When all the shoes were still there :P





It was beautiful. 


My favorite Calla Lilies and roses :)


To my fiancé,

Thank you for taking a year to plan on how to make my girly childhood dreams of having a beautiful, meaningful proposal come true.

You never failed to be thoughtful, detailed, and excellent in all you do. And thanks for always thinking for me, loving me, and trying to make me happy.

You are the best, and I have a major feeling that it will be a great and fun journey of planning (it already is!) for the big day together with a person such as you.

Can't wait to spend my life with you.

I love you :)


18 comments:

  1. I wanted to wish you guys to be happy forever, but then I think again, I already KNOW that you guys WILL be happy forever so my wish would be for the two of you to have each other forever. :) This is such a BEAUTIFUL story. The best love story I've ever come across and once again, congratulations Careen! Looking forward to your wedding! :)

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    1. Thanks Miki....it's great to have a friend like you who is always so supportive :) Yes, make yourself available on Nov 3!!

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  2. It has been quite some time since i read a post so long lolx!!!

    Happy for you lahhhhh!!! CONGRATULATIONSSS =)

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    1. Hahahaha yes it's actually super long. Cos I'm super cheonghei :P Thanks Joshua!! Looking forward to yours ;)

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  3. Stumbled upon your post on FB! Congrats girl! Really really touching story~ Live happily ever after will ya? ^^ <3

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  4. Love love love this post :) couldn't make it to the proposal but at least I get to read it here :) :)

    Jiaying

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    1. n i went to sungkai before hahahah...very nice leh :p octopus :p

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    2. Hahaha you love ugly things wan...so the octopus can be your best fwen ;)

      Thanks JY! Really wished you were around. But make sure you'll be there on Nov 3! ;) Well, at least you got to read your own text in the proposal ;) hehehe

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    3. HAHHAAH! how u know i love ugly things?! lol! i'll sure be there on Nov 3!! CANT WAIT!! :D

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  5. I burst out laughing at the part where you mentioned your fiance always threatening to propose with a cheap ring because my bf does that too!!! Hahaha. I hope that one day I can have a proposal as beautiful, romantic and sincere as yours!!! Congratz!!! =)

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  6. hello careen, i love reading your blog and this post is really priceless. Burst out laughing when you mention about the" you're-so-cheesy-but-I-love-it" look. Congratulationsssss! :D

    Love your dress, can i know its from where? *sorry for the unrelated question*

    :) once again, best wishes to both of you!

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  7. tears rolling near the end of the post! stay sweet forever!

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  8. This is just so..impressive! And your husband-to-be is just so thoughtful and I do wish happiness for both of you on your wedding day; I hope you are the ones from the story that says - Happily Ever After! Cheers (:

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  9. your dress is awesome! where'd you get it? (:

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  10. awww your friends take really beautiful photos!

    sydsense.blogspot.com

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