The most beautiful season

Yes, autumn/fall is my favourite season. I just love the colours, the leaves, the cool temperature, the food associated with it (apples, pumpkin...), excuses to go somewhere indoor and have a cup of coffee kind of days, and scarfs.

Even though it is the most beautiful season of the year, it is also the busiest for me. Lots of studying need to be done and I have been traveling a bit during the weekends with the COCM gospel team to hold evangelistic nights for new Chinese students in the UK. Church and fellowship here in Bristol have been a big part of my life this season, in addition to learning how to live better (cooking, exercising, trying to work on discipline etc). 

Here are some photos from here and there that I took within the last two months.

Wishing you a happy October while it is still here!

Picture perfect// Niagara Falls (stateside)

Last night, I revisited some photos from our family vacation to the east coast of the USA two springs ago because I was suddenly in the mood to do so. What is significant about this process of looking back at the photos and sharing them here now is how I have grown in my self-image. I don't necessarily like how I look still (chubby face, pimples, crooked teeth, and hair that has its own character at different times), but I have learned to accept my appearance and also focus on the more important things: the joy of spending time with family, the moments of seeing the magnificent views and being awed by them, the experience of traveling and seeing the world... It does not matter that I don't look pretty/perfect in the photos, what matters is the moments they captured--my feelings of excitement at seeing the Niagara falls, laughing at dad's awkward camera strap as a permanent part of his outfit, feeling the mist at the falls, and so on. So here they are, some picture-perfect views of the Niagara falls and the maybe-awkward (unflattering angles, blurred, strangers-turned subject) but real pictures of me and my family. :)