Down Under Days 9 and 10: Mini Golf and Misc Photos

Before we returned to the city, there was one last thing we wanted to do.

Play mini golf at The Grampians Adventure Golf!

We used to play it quite often when we were living in upstate New York, so it was nice to re-live the game again.

It's funny how competitive we can get when we play with each other, such as trying our darnest to make sure no one's cheating on the number of strokes!

Then it was a long 3-4 hours drive back to Melbourne. By the time we checked into our hotel and wanted to grab a bite, it was almost time for a very early dinner. We took a tram to the city centre, explored the alleyways which the city's famous for and settled at this restaurant called The Quarter.

The remaining photos below are miscellaneous photos from what's left of our trip.

Hardware Lane for brunch with Charissa and her hubby

Brunch was at Hardware Societe, recommended by Charissa. The food and service was really good!

Took a walk with her to the City Library, where she was going to study for her exams

Beautiful interiors. I wouldn't mind studying in a place like that :)

Charissa highly recommended us to check out Brunswick Street, to get a feel of the eclectic, less commercial side of shopping in Melbourne.

(XL, YZ, MY! I bought your keychains from here :))

We had dinner at Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder at Richmond. Very good food!

Yum yum!

We would ogle at the wide selection of cakes at Acland Street near our hotel every night.

Hmmmmmm

After 3 months of intermittent writing, I'm finally done with my Melbourne entries. Oh how i miss travelling. Can't wait for the next holiday!

The Wrong Winner

Sep 29, 2010

Oops! It's the wrong winner

SYDNEY - The showpiece finale of a popular Australian reality modelling show ended in a toe-curling blunder when the wrong winner was announced on live television.

Australia's Next Top Model's two finalists had already made their winner's and loser's speeches when presenter Sarah Murdoch, daughter-in-law of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, revealed the mix-up.

'Oh my God, I don't know what to say right now. I'm feeling a bit sick about this,' Murdoch said during Tuesday's broadcast. 'This is what happens on live TV, folks. This is insane, insane, insane.'

A bewildered Amanda Ware, 18, finally accepted the award and made a brief victory sashay down the catwalk, as 19-year-old Kelsey Martinovich took the bizarre defeat gracefully.

'It's an honest mistake, it's fine,' she said, consoling the red-faced Murdoch.

Broadcaster Foxtel blamed the error on a 'miscommunication' between backstage operators, and offered Martinovich a cash gift and a trip to New York as compensation. Local media rated the error as one of the most embarrassing moments on Australian TV. - AFP.

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Check out the YouTube video of the finale here. I feel really bad for Kelsey! Kudos to her for handling the situation with so much grace, maturity and poise.

Confessions of A Bride-to-be #6: Tips for the Pre-Wedding Shoot

Thought i'd share some tips from my own experience for the pre-wedding shoot. Although mine was a casual shoot, i believe most of these tips can be applicable to bridal shoots as well :)

Packing list

1) Make up - Do bring along your loose powder and a lipstick to touch up. If possible, ask your make up artist to use your lipstick or a lipstick in the same shade as what you have, so that the lip colour will match when you touch up subsequently.

2) Mirror - Useful to whip out and check your reflection wherever you want :)

3) Tissue, lots of it - This will come in handy to dab sweat and blot your face, especially if you are doing an outdoor shoot.

4) Water and snacks - All that running around will leave you dehydrated and hungry. Time is precious during a shoot, so packing your own water and snacks will help to save you the trouble of finding a convenience store or F&B outlet.

5) Dental floss - I didn't actually bring this for my shoot, but on hindsight, if you're planning to eat in between locations, this would come in useful, because the last thing is to have that piece of veggie still stuck in your teeth!

6) Extra pair of contacts and eye drops - If you're myopic, like me, it's good to bring along an extra pair of contacts, just in case. And eye drops, to keep your peepers moist and shiny.

7) Slippers - Good to change into them and give your feet a break when the camera's not on you and you've got to travel to your next location.

8) Umbrella - For rain or shine!

Before the shoot...

• Do conduct a recce at the locations to find spots which you like for the shoot
• Think of props which you can bring along. I had thought of buying a nice parasol for the shoot, in case it rained, but didn't in the end
• Do prep your skin with face masks
  
• Do have an early night's rest before the shoot
• Don't worry and have fun!
  

Confessions of A Bride-to-be #5: It's A Wrap!

I didn't have a good feeling about the weather when i woke up to cloudy skies yesterday morning.

True enough, it started pouring while i was getting my make up done, right before the photo shoot.

My (or any bride-to-be's) worst nightmare came true.

The rain only got heavier as we drove to our first location. The Aries in me was overruled by emotions - I was frustrated and disappointed.

But the fiance reminded me that the rain could stop and even if it didn't, we just had to make the best of the situation. Besides, the last thing we wanted was for the negative emotions to be displayed in our photos.

Eadwine set us at ease immediately after a quick 'warm up' session and told us not to worry about the weather, or exceeding the time and just have fun.

And fun it was indeed.

I expected the shoot to be awkward so i was surprised by how comfortable it was. After a while, you don't notice the stares and only get caught up in each other. I don't think we've ever had so many public displays of affection in a single day!

Then our silver lining came, when the rain stopped in the early evening and we quickly zoomed off to our outdoor location to steal some shots. If any consolation, we enjoyed the cooling weather post-downpour.

So the weather sucked and we didn't get to take the perfect, sunny shots we had envisioned. But that's life isn't it? Sometimes, things don't always go your way, we whine, but we soldier on and get by.

Can't wait to see the photos, hope they turn out alright!

Down Under Day 8: Horse Riding at The Grampians

One of the things I was really looking forward to for this trip was horse riding in the Australian outbacks.

It's something I have always wanted to try since young, so you can imagine how excited i was when i woke up that morning.

The plan was to go to The Grampians Horse Riding Adventures which i had found through internet research, prior to our trip.

I cooked breakfast with whatever little ingredients we had from our trip to the supermarket. As i mentioned previously, the supermarket was not well stocked. We only managed to buy a tiny box of button mushrooms and a carton of eggs. The loaf of bread came complimentary with our stay. No bacon, no ham or sausages, none of those fresh ingredients for that sumptuous breakfast i was looking forward to cooking.

But we just had to make do with whatever we had.

Our sad looking breakfast. I wish the portion of mushrooms could have been bigger but that's all we had, unfortunately.

En route to the Horseriding Centre, we spotted this female Kangaroo and her joey. You really need to be extra alert when driving in Australia, to ensure you don't knock down any wildlife.

We also spotted a field of sheep and what we found very amusing, was how they all stopped in their heels to STARE at the car, when we parked to take photos. Reminded me of this movie The Invaders starring Nicole Kidman.

After a 90 mins drive, we reached the horse riding centre to discover that there wasn't a single soul.

Our hearts sank.

We were so disappointed that we weren't able to try out horse riding. As we were supposed to drive back to Melbourne city the next day, there was no way we could return on another day to try our luck.

Just as we were starting the car to make the long drive back to Halls Gap, a tall man walked up to us and introduced himself as Cameron. He told us we should have made a reservation because he wasn't at the stables all day, but he could take us riding in the afternoon with another couple who had already booked a slot with him. He then suggested we go do some sightseeing at the McKenzie Falls and have lunch before returning.

The less than impressive McKenzie Falls

After lunch, we returned to the horse riding centre and Cameron gave us a short introduction to horse riding, before fitting us with safety helmets and boots.

I had asked Cameron to give us smaller horses to ride, if possible, especially since I was so small. He showed us to our horses, Pete and Sebastian, which were already saddled up. According to him, our horses were "best buds" and would "take things slowly", perfect for a couple like us with no prior experience.

After we got on our horses, Cameron taught us to get the horse to move, stop and turn. We were given the analogy of it being like driving a car, moving from gear to gear.

Cameron was right. Our horses were very easy-going. Too relaxed in fact! The fiance had some trouble getting good old Sebastian to move faster and lagged behind while the rest of the group was constantly moving ahead.

Once we got the hang of things, we were taught to trot. Trotting by the way is extremely physically exhausting. You aren't supposed to just sit back and relax on the saddle as the horse trots but literally need to lift your butt up and down, in sync with the rhythm of the horse's trot, to protect your butt from the impact of all that bouncing (does that make sense to you?).

We spent the next 2 hours alternating between trotting and walking among the outbacks. No cantering for us as we were novice riders.

Not that i was complaining.

I could feel the adrenalin rush even while trotting and there were times where i felt like i might have gotten thrown off by the speed.

I had some trouble with Pete towards the end because he kept stopping to feed. Every time i pulled the reins up, he would bend his head down to chomp at the grass again. Look who's the master now?

The 2.5 hours were over before we knew it, as we made our way back to the stables.

Even though my butt and thigh muscles ached for the next few days from the trotting (you have no idea), I loved the experience.

Glad to be able to strike this off my 'must do' list.

Doubt i'll ever be good enough to gallop with the wind (a secret childhood dream of mine), but this, is good enough for me :)

Wedding Eye Candy: Let There Be Light

I'm convinced that the lighting is better overseas. Really.

If you don't believe me, just take a look at these gorgeous photos.

Fingers and toes crossed for no rain and great light for our shoot next week!

Confessions of A Bride-To-Be #4: Fashion for the Bridesmaids and Best Men

I've been taking things easy on the wedding front (which explains why my last Confessions of A Bride-To-Be post was in June) but got a jolt back to reality, when our Chief Best Man smsed me during the weekend, to ask what the Best Men should wear to match the Bridesmaids so he could help to coordinate.

Yes, I have gotten my Bridesmaid dresses. Even before my own wedding gown is ready :P

Sometime in January this year, we had gone for a recce trip at our wedding venue. Lucky for us, there was an on going wedding and we sneaked glimpses of the outdoor solemnisation ceremony.

I couldn't forget how pretty the bridesmaids had looked in their yellow dresses, how it matched the greenery of the venue and made the wedding oh so cheery.

So when i saw an online shop selling a yellow design sometime back, I immediately made a bulk order for my bridesmaids (whom i am eternally grateful to by the way, for agreeing to sacrifice their fashion preferences for their friend/sister here).

Photo from Style Me Pretty

I can't wait to see them in their dresses but first I have to figure out what the Best Men should wear, because they will need time to shop for clothes and all i can find on my favourite wedding sites, are grey or khaki suits with yellow ties, which might not match the Groom-to-be, who is planning to don a black suit.

Any suggestions are welcome!

Wedding Eye Candy: Summer Girl Meets Local Boy

I don't like to admit this, but I read the Weddings/Celebration section in the online New York Times.

Kinda like Katherine Heighl's character in 27 Dresses if you recall, except i do not keep a scrapbook of newspaper cutouts. That's extreme!

Anyway i just read about this couple who first crossed paths when they were kids and just had to share their story.

Love the last quote by the way.

Now if only The Straits Times could look into a similar column some day.

(If Sumiko Tan's column about her aversion to air condition and sleeping in separate beds can make it into papers, i don't see why a weddings column can't!)


(From The New York Times)
By DEVAN SIPHER

Published: September 17, 2010

IT was supposed to be only a summer romance.

That’s all that Ariana Rockefeller was allowing herself in 2005, as she explored the hidden coves of Mount Desert Island in Maine with Matthew Bucklin.

They sailed around the lobster-claw-shaped haven with its pink granite bluffs, where Mr. Bucklin was raised amid the thousands of acres that the late John D. Rockefeller Jr., Ms. Rockefeller’s great-grandfather, had donated to what is now Acadia National Park.

“Summer girl meets local boy” is how Ms. Rockefeller, 28, summed up their story.

But like characters in a Nicholas Sparks romance novel, their courtship was complicated. In fact, Mr. Bucklin, whose family has owned a construction company in Northeast Harbor, Me., for more than a century, waited years for a first date.

They initially crossed paths as children on the island. “I distinctly remember him and his three brothers rolling around in the sand,” Ms. Rockefeller said.

As Mr. Bucklin, now 27, recalled, “She wanted to come over and play, but her nanny wouldn’t let her.”

It was more than a decade later, in August 2003, when they were officially introduced at a party in Northeast Harbor. She took note of his six-foot athletic frame, but what most intrigued her was the weight of his words. (Mr. Bucklin, who had been changing his siblings’ diapers from the time he was 5, carries himself with a seriousness that belies his age.)

“He was calm and confident,” said Ms. Rockefeller, who is known for her own intrepid spirit. They bonded over stories of recent semesters abroad; she in Paris and he in St. Petersburg. “He wanted to make something of himself,” she said, contrasting his aspirations with those of men she’d met who “just want to live off their parents’ trust funds.”

As for Mr. Bucklin, he was smitten by her worldly poise and unaffected humility. “I thought she was beautiful, down to earth and easy to talk to,” he said.

But Ms. Rockefeller, wary of the attention that comes with her surname, was not prone to casual liaisons. Especially in this small Maine community. “Everyone knows everybody’s business,” she said. “I always worked hard to stay low profile.”

Over that summer and the next one, she welcomed Mr. Bucklin’s friendship but not his romantic overtures. “He’d try to hold my hand in movies and things like that, and I’d skillfully get out of it,” she said.

He was uncomplaining and undeterred. “I realized quickly that she didn’t respond well to people pursuing her aggressively,” he said.

He also learned how easily she could flee when she abruptly departed college, and the continent, to live in northern Brazil, where she volunteered at an elementary school, run by a nonprofit organization there.

“I’m a Gemini,” Ms. Rockefeller said. “I love to change things up.”

In 2005, however, she was distressed by the changes thrust upon her as her parents, David Rockefeller Jr. and Diana Newell Rowan, underwent a difficult divorce. Ms. Rockefeller returned to the island that summer seeking its healing powers, and what she found was Mr. Bucklin offering steadfast support.

“He made me feel very calm,” she said, “and very happy.” He was weakening her resolve against dating him, until one evening: “I remember just sighing and thinking to myself, Here we go. And then I leaned in and kissed him.”

It was what he had been waiting for.

Days of swimming in the ocean followed nights of stargazing in each other’s arms. “I was having the time of my life,” she said. But she insisted it was just a summer fling.

He disagreed. Having recently graduated from Colby College, he took a job in the fall as a financial analyst in New York, so he could be near her while she finished her degree in political science at Columbia.

But she viewed his proximity with alarm. Instead of being an escape from family drama, he was becoming an entanglement.

“I freaked out,” she said. She also relocated to a surfers’ shack in Hawaii. “I thought if I was in a relationship, I was going to lose part of myself.”

It was Mr. Bucklin who acutely felt a loss. “She was the only one I’ve ever been totally comfortable with,” he said.

They remained in sporadic contact, but only as friends. He was determined to win her back, and he decided the way to do that was to improve himself. “This was a very special woman, and she would want to be with someone interesting and worldly.”

He set out to be that person, crossing tasks off his “to do” list, including continuing his education at New York University and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.

After four years, he reached one of the last items, what he called “getting in touch with my roots,” becoming the fifth generation to work at his family’s business, now owned by his father, Charles E. Bucklin.

There on Mount Desert Island, Ms. Rockefeller and Mr. Bucklin reconnected when she visited last summer. “Matt proved that he was really serious about me,” she said, still sounding grateful and surprised. By Christmas she was the one making plans to relocate to Maine to be near him.

But then the old doubts of losing her independence crept in. “I was afraid to end up where my parents had been,” she said. In February, she informed Mr. Bucklin that she was moving to Los Angeles.

“I wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to run away from me, or just wanted to feel chased,” he said. A chase is what she got when he followed her to L.A.

“I always knew I loved her,” he said. “Seven years of waiting and friendship, that was the hard part.”

He proposed that same month. Not only did she accept, but she also wanted to elope.

“I was used to running away,” she said, but with his encouragement, she had a change of heart. “I finally just wanted to face everything and do things gracefully and properly.”

On Sept. 4, more than 200 wedding guests assembled on Mount Desert Island in a shaded glade within the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, created by the bride’s great-grandmother, who was a founder of the Museum of Modern Art.

A puff of white cloud strayed across a powder-blue sky as Ms. Rockefeller walked the aisle of fresh cut grass in a Monique Lhuillier embroidered lace sheath gown and floor-length veil.

The Rev. Mary B. Johnstone, an Episcopal priest, led Ms. Rockefeller and Mr. Bucklin in their vows on an altar of moss-covered granite before an 11-foot limestone Chinese pagoda.

The bride looked serene and strong as the couple stood side by side, framed by two white birch trees gently bending toward each other, their branches entwined.

During the cocktail hour, friends and family wandered through the garden’s riotous blossoms. Japanese anemones, giant yellow daffodils and blood red Spartacus dahlias competed for attention with mounds of fresh lobster meat and oysters on the half shell, while a bald eagle soared among the towering pines.

Mr. Rockefeller toasted the couple, welcoming his new son-in-law to the family and their homes, “where we lose our socks and try to find our center,” he said.

With the sun hanging low in the sky, Mr. Bucklin took his wife on the dance floor and held her close as they swayed to “Summer Wind,” the Johnny Mercer classic.

“He keeps me grounded,” she said, “and I keep him on his toes.”

A Very Overdue Postcard

I received this in the mail on Friday.

Looks like any postcard doesn't it? Except it was sent to me by XL in October 2009 and i just received it?!

Wonder where the postcard has travelled to over the past year. Did it go on a round the world journey? Was it hand carried? Was it stuck at the some post office, hidden among stacks of letters, before someone found it and processed it?

So many possible scenarios.

I can wonder, but i will never know :)

Swap Swop

2 years back, i attended Swirl's Swop Swap at their boutique at Stamford House.

Based on the belief that one man's trash is another man's treasure, anyone is welcome to bring their pre-loved clothes (i.e. impulsive buys, clothes which no longer fit, but are still in good condition. NOT the raggedy t-shirts you sleep in) and pick up other pre-loved treasures. At the end of the day, whatever clothes not taken would be donated to charity by the Swirl owners. To be fair to others, you are only allowed to bring back clothes in the bag which you brought along, to prevent freeloaders from stashing bagfuls of clothes home.

I went away with a Mango workdress the last time i was there, which i still wear till this day :)

Photo from The Swirl Girls

But now that the Swirl boutique has since closed, the event is no longer organised.

What a pity, maybe i would pull together some friends and organise one when the new place is done!

Monique Lhuillier's Spring 11 Collection

Call me ignorant, but I never knew that Monique Llhuillier also designs fashion other than wedding gowns until I saw her Spring 11 runway collection being featured on Elle.com

Here are my favourites from the collection.

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Photos from Elle.com

Old Russia, in colour

Chanced upon this very interesting set of photos of old Russia from The Big Picture.

You rarely see photos from a century ago, in colour, but photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii had done so, with a special camera that captured black and white shots using red, green and blue filters, which were later recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images.

So surreal. I can't believe they were taken 100 years ago.

Photos from The Big Picture

The resized photos don't do the details justice so do check out the website to see more images.