On our way

!(imgcenter)http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1324/1462582541_0b51083399.jpg(As our east end goes up…)!:http://www.flickr.com/photos/yannie/1462582541/

Sometimes, instant gratification may not be as good as it sounds.

Take our east end, for example. 10 months after we signed on the dotted line, it has only risen by eight storeys or so. Given that the blocks are 17 floors tall and the developers need to work on the finishings, the flat is on track to be completed by end 2008.

It gets harder and harder to say our goodbyes at my doorstep these days. But the knowledge that our home is on its way to completion nudges us gently along the road. Plus, it is rather enjoyable when we take a special detour in Tampines just to look at the east end and know that this is where our future began. Just the other day, he asked me to check out some pictures and videos he had taken earlier in the day. Half expecting pictures of Master Chief or something in that vein, I found myself scrolling through photos of our still-in-construction flat – he had driven by to check its progress.

……….

!(imgcenter)http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1380/1462583457_69d9391024.jpg(Playing at Ikea)!:http://www.flickr.com/photos/yannie/1462583457/

I used to be feel like a big kid in a funky playground everytime I step into Ikea. If only I had my own house, I would have this light and this table and this wardrobe and this curtain, I thought.

These days, going into the Ikea store at Tampines feels doubly meaningful. One day, we would be filling our home with some of these pieces – it would be our place decorated exactly the way we like it. We would finally get to try our hands at cooking, put up the photos we had taken and invite our friends over to chill out.

In fact, we have decided we will definitely get a charcoal grill set so we can have yakitori whenever we feel like it. We’ll set it up in the balcony, shut the doors and the fan the smoke over to our neighbours’ place.

……….

When I read about The Premiere in the papers, I thought it was perfect. It was in our neck of the woods and near the MRT station and it wouldn’t be up till 2008, which gives us time to save up and make plans.

We went to the showroom and I just knew that I wanted to live here. Sure, the space wasn’t big, the kitchen was a little narrow and a tad too far from the station. But it was just a feeling I had, standing in the sunlit rooms, looking at the cosy bay windows and the airy balcony.

It was just a feeling but I think trusting my instincts was one of the best things I have ever done.