My package arrived today. This would be a pretty decor for the Santai Corner at the wedding. Loosely translated as ‘Dessert Corner’. Cannot wait to set it up. After the wedding, I am giving half to my sister especially the green one since that is her favourite colour.
Organizing an event after the Raya holidays require determination cause not a lot of people will be in the mood. However, having this luncheon is important as it is a farewell ceremony to a very kind and hardworking Family Medicine Specialist (FMS) at our clinic. At first, I had wanted to wait it out and let someone with more calibre take on the reins and organize the luncheon. Time passed and the silence got more deafening, triggering this anxiety within me to just take the plunge and be in charge.
At first, we wanted to do the farewell at the clinic but the usual seminar room is already booked for another function. A colleague suggested we bring this outside for a change. I welcomed the idea and soon enough we chose The Windmill Station at Bukit Beruang as our venue. I wanted to make the reservation a few days in advance but the manager told me to make the call again on the day of the event.
So, I had a few ideas in mind. A decorative table, door gifts and delicious lunch.
I enlisted the help of my colleague, Erenna who is known as The Decorator. As usual, she makes decorating so easy and I tried my best to be of help by getting some stuff that may be useful for her project. I made a trip to Kaison and got some beautiful trinkets and fairy lights for the table. I was selective in my choices because I wanted things I could reuse later for other social events and even for my own home decor. Erenna helped me to choose some flowers and matching vases to go with it.
I started very early with my Teacher’s Day gifts by ordering some Indonesian brand coffee, mini spoons and packaging. I thought I could prepare the same for the luncheon. Indeed I spent a few minutes of my night after work putting some love into the labour of assembling this door gift. I also packed some chocolates I got from Langkawi into small packages as an extra touch. I just hope they loved it. I DIYed the frame.
As for the farewell gift, I made the trip to the new IOI City Mall in Putrajaya to get a bag from Sometime for the boss. IOI is huge and I feel it’s a great place to hunt for gifts which are exclusive by our local designers. Will blog about it in a different post.
Everyone gets to order an ala-carte meal with drinks with a budget of less than RM30 per person. On top of the meal, I also bought a cake from my favourite, Italy Bakery. This time I tried something new – Cranberry Chocolate cake. A small one with enough portions for 13 people and extra for the guy on lunch call.
Organizing a social event is fun when people cooperate and you have the money to do so. I am excited to take on further mini-social projects in the near time which include Bridal Room Decor (for Matin), Eid Adha, Aug-Sept birthday party, clinic Open Day, listening party etc. In the meantime, Semester 11 is starting next week. We will see if I have residual social stamina to keep going.
2021 is host to a very quiet Chinese New Year celebration. I miss going to the mall where the loud loud songs of CNY blast through the speakers. What more the lion dances and bright red decorations at the foyer. The good thing is that majority of people are obeying the SOPs and the PKPs. Only a few noisy vessels here and there. Sometimes even I get confused as to what they are fighting for in the first place. They oppose everything.
I don’t celebrate CNY but a few of my neighbours does. In continuation of my Xmas lights effort end of last year, I decided to proceed with Minci’s Solar Project for this CNY. I ordered more solar items from China through Shopee and bought a variation of decoration lights. Solar lanterns, included. My vision was for a festive scene out of Mulan. My packages came from China in 2 – 3 boxes at different intervals as they were from different vendors. I think I spent nearly RM600 for all of them. It was one of those purchases where you buy bit by bit, not realizing the bills were stacking up. Thankfully, the quality were appropriate for its price. I mean you gotta give China credit for its technology man. People have got to stop looking at them as great copiers – their technology is getting more awesome.
It was easier said than done as my main challenge for putting up the lights were my height. It was a pain to put up the sticky hooks securely at its place. Then, having to stretch my arms and neck to see where best the lights would go. The ladder was damn heavy too. It took me two days to kind of figure out how to hang up my lawn decorations. Charging the lights were easy as there were plenty of sun. After all, we are coming into the dry season. I am a bit worried though as we are at around this time last year when we had to ration our water and rely on the tanks provided near the surau.
I finally completed my task a week before CNY. I am positive I heard a kid on his bike passing by my house yelled, “cantiknya rumah tu, ada lampu”. I hope those who are celebrating are just as excited as I am seeing the bright lanterns glowing at night. I have included this scene in my upcoming Youtube video. I am trying to produce at least 10 YT videos in a year using the content structure that I have come up with to get at least 10 minutes showtime. This is of course a work in progress. I don’t know how millennials make it look so easy capturing and uploading a vlog frequently. I feel like a dinosaur. A mini, not so extinct dinosaur. But hey, humans can learn new things right.
I have already bought enough lights for the Ramadhan and Eid season – anticipating an also Covid19 version of festivities, for who knows, we would still be stuck like this in the future. In fact, I am also planning to extend this project into planning a Covid-19 friendly gathering with my friends and family if the SOP permits soon.
How did you spend your Chinese New Year weekend? Did something interesting?
Minci Moss 