Singapore Botanic Gardens

We fell in love with the trees and all the plant life thriving in this beautiful 74 hectares garden that was free for the public to enjoy even if we went after church at noon. It was my parents' first time there and they fell in love with this garden, as if transported back to the Chicago Botanic Gardens, which they went often to take pictures of the flowers. The people living in Singapore are blessed to have this huge garden that they can go to, with no mosquitoes and lots of heritage trees.

Swan Lake

Portraits in Singapore

Lately, I'm inspired by photography and making portraits again. Current favourite tools: iphone, adobe lightroom, Canon dslr, and a dose of inspiration from blogs, instagram, and flickr once in a while.

Links lately

-Andy and Dorothy's blog about living with eternity in mind, and this blog post that reminds me not to despise the small, mundane moments in life. Dorothy is a photographer I have been following since years ago when she was interning with the Rhoads (Chris and Sarah-photographers whom I really admired).
-It was the 'Midsummer's Night Ballad' episode on Yu Huiyeol's Sketchbook last night and I remembered how much I love a good ballad and oh, Park Hyo Shin is really really good. I never really read the lyrics of his songs but since there is English subtitles on tv, I realised that understanding the lyrics actually make the songs better. He's really on another level of musicality compared to other singers. The songs are really well written too--the lyrics that use imageries from the most common/universal/little things in life tugging at the exact emotions the poetry wants us to feel, the progression of the song that keeps going up even when you would have been satisfied with the song, and yet it keeps giving you more and they don't seem excessive but appropriate. He hits all the right spot with his breathing, the length of pauses, expression.
-home interior dreaming
-a cute family with good aesthetics
-creative inspiration-patterns from Fine Little Day
-the creative photos of these two sisters by their dad, which I saw on flickr many years ago

Birthday numbers

I'm just popping in to write about the days surrounding turning twenty-seven. My littlest baby cousin was born a day before my birthday. I took photos of seventeen-day-old baby Hannah with her parents aka my childhood friend since I was nine. I read at least twenty-six books in my twenty-sixth year. I have been living in Kuching for a full year. I learned more about how to communicate with more than thirty-five different students at work. I still feel inadequate and sorrowful often but with a little bit more resilience built in through brokenness, God's grace, and the encouragement of those who love me constantly and steadfastly. I am still working towards my goal of reading a-hundred-fifty books. I just started another three-hundred-sixty-five photo project to record each day of my twenty-seven. I am finite, but God is infinite. Lord, I will trust in You.

Back in the days: Lost in NYC

We were not actually lost but the buildings are humongous compared to us as we wandered around New York City on foot by ourselves. I don't think we had smart phones then so we depended on Google map print-outs as our rough guide and made our way through the city.

Deli, pizza, coffee, & flowers

Embassies of different countries, souvenir shops, yellow taxis, and hot dog stands at street corners were in abundance too.

 ...and we reached the Rockefeller Centre.

Back in the days: NYC Brooklyn

We went on a short family trip to the East Coast in May 2011 as it was our last year in the US and we had never been to New York city. 

Statue of Liberty

 And there it is, Brooklyn Bridge!

It took us awhile before we could find the ramp to walk up to the bridge.

But it was well worth the effort because the view from Brooklyn Bridge is quite iconic