Collections

Exercise 4 in my photography project book is "Collections". I don't really collect anything. We live in a small condo, 1600 square feet including the balcony space that we never use because it is 90 degrees and 90% humidity outside everyday. It isn't a place to start a collection, unless it is absolutely necessary! So here are my completely necessary collections...enjoy!

Completely necessary to keep 24 issues (and counting) of Expat Living magazine! This is extremely important and useful information regarding the best restaurants, shops and events in Singapore. 

Geoff and I have been running machines lately! OK, maybe that is a bit much, but we are having a lot of fun doing all of these different races.  Race bibs are great to keep as souvenirs.

I am not a Buddhist or a religious person but for me this is necessary because it is beautiful. I probably shouldn't include this photo since its just one Buddha. I do plan on expanding my Buddha collection soon so maybe its OK. Anyway, the photo turned out well so I'm including it.

This isn't the whole cook book collection, just some of them. I love cook books since I cook most nights for us. I think since we have been in Singapore I have added 5 to the collection. Every time we move I pack them up and take them with me. I couldn't survive without them even though I still at times have no idea what I'm going to cook for dinner.

Race medals to go with some of the race bibs! Not all races hand out medals to their runners so its a treat to get them. Some are super fancy and some are not but I love them all! I want enough to decorate a Christmas tree some day.

Couldn't decide which shot was better so putting them both up. It is meant to be out of focus at the top of the photo to give a better sense of distance from the top of the medal to the medal itself. 

My nesting dolls!!! Absolutely necessary and so beautiful! Geoff used to travel to Russia and Estonia for work and he would always bring me back a new nesting doll. 

Coins...not a coin collection but a collection of coins. :)

Chinese New Year is coming up at the end of January and I am working on ideas for photographs. Fingers crossed I can come up with a few interesting shots. If anyone reading this blog has any suggestions, requests or critiques I'd love to hear from you.

Happy Friday!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas snuck up on me this year. Maybe its living in the tropics with high heat and humidity everyday but it just doesn't seem like Christmas time at all. The signs are there, beautiful decorations all over the city, stores with plenty of gift ideas, grocery stores with so many extra yummy treats! Somehow with everything it still doesn't feel like Christmas. Here are some trees that are close to home. I see them everyday when I am out and about walking around town. I guess I should have posted this last week, maybe I would have found the spirit of the holidays a little sooner!

 This is my favorite tree at Asia Square (right behind our condo). It is a giant tree, must be 3 stories high.

A close up of the Asia Square tree decorations. That star is as big as my head!

I liked this angle of the tree.

This is my favorite photo in this post. I love the "out of focus" shot. I spend so much time trying to get a perfect photo, its funny how the out of focus perspective is popular with photographers. Hope to try this more often in the future.

Nutcracker tree at the I12Katong mall. 

One Shenton tree in the lobby on the 1st floor. This is the tree at our condo, beautiful!

This is the closest thing we will have to a Rockefeller Center tree this year. It is giant, packed with lights and gorgeous! I saw them putting the tree up a few weeks ago. There was a hole in the back of the tree so I peaked in and a man was in there and he scared me so bad!!! I jumped and screamed, thank goodness it was a weekend and the building was pretty much empty! I'll never do that again!

Pretty little tree at the Marina Bay Link Mall. I love this mall and now that the Downtown Line is open I am able to get there quickly. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Friday!!!

Joo Chiat Neighborhood Walk

This week some of the members of the Singapore International Ladies Group went for a walk through the Joo Chiat neighborhood. I signed up to go along and brought my camera with me, just in case. This is a residential conservation area and some of the buildings are just beautiful. We met at the Paya Lebar MRT station and walked for a bit then stopped for lunch. There were 14 of us walking that day, we must have been a sight to see ourselves. 14 super sweaty expat ladies walking through a local neighborhood taking photos of just about everything, lol! We had a good time and after the holidays we will be going to another neighborhood for another walk around. Here are my photos from Joo Chiat, enjoy!

This building is from 1928, beautifully restored.

These are homes that are in the process of being restored. They are even more beautiful in person.

So colorful and cheerful.

An up close shot of the detail around the window. 

Another window, just beautiful. Makes me want to put on a flowery dress and sip iced tea and eat tiny cakes while fanning myself.

Detail of one of the tiles.

Gorgeous!

Off street parking is nice, however, I have heard from other ladies that many of these homes do not have air con. Some have open air kitchens. Beautiful to look at but I will stay in my condo for now.

Neighborhood junk shop.

I like to think the Loving Hut is the name of a restaurant or coffee shop or pet adoption center...sure looks like a bunch of tiny rooms.

Hardware store. I love these little local shops. They are crammed full of stuff and when I go I always ask the person for whatever it is I need and they always know exactly where to find it. 

Looks like a nice restaurant. Pretty red building.

This building was so bright and good looking. Next door to a temple, not sure if it is a private residence or part of the temple.

Reflection of the temple across the street in the hood of a car.

Kuain Im Tng Temple

From the web:

The first thing that strikes you upon entering the temple is the statue of the Goddess of Mercy, the statue provides the main centre of “attraction”, drawing masses of worshippers to the temple. Although Goddess of Mercy is generally associated with Buddhism, it doesn’t mean that Kuan Im Tng Temple (Joo Chiat) is a place of traditional Buddhist worship. Instead, it upholds a unique three in one combination consisting of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, capturing and consolidating the essence of these three religions into “Xian Tian Sect.” What then are the exact elements preached in this fusion of religious beliefs?

They are: -
• To cultivate the mind and body through Taoist philosophies;
• To accumulate merits and good karma through recitations of Buddhist mantras; and
• To apply Confucian etiquette in everyday lives.

Super cool!

This is the lion that is in front of the temple. I loved his eyes

Restaurant to hang out at all day with your neighbors. Overall a very nice area of Singapore. I loved our walk.