Bumper Issue

Hi all!

It's been one hectic winter season and so much has happened in between here and there. Needless to say, I did plenty given June was the babies' one-year celebration and we all had back-to-back weekend birthday parties to attend (which meant more cakes got deposited in our lovely middle sections). Oh, did I mention that we moved into our new home?

We also had quite a number of play dates and flirting around a bit with boyfriends, getting stolen kisses and plenty of hugs! All good to ward off the winter blues...

Mama had got a new job and rocking those pumps. Got back into personal training too and signed up for her first fun run in ages! Papa ran the City2Surf 2012 and raised funds for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation for Kids too! Way to go!

We learned to bake our own croissant and threw some wicked Indian curry lunches. Got a new porch, nearly got the fence blown off on one windy night, had a few horrible weeks of teething cries and packed on a few weight and height gains along the way.

Before we jet off to our long-awaited family break in Cairns, here's some of the snapshots of what had been a most wonderful, heart-warming winter of 2012.

 XXX

Myla Isabel

Mama with my birthday "bee-licious" cupcakes!

The night I took over my parents' bed.

Pigtails day!

Getting ready for school... keeping warm!

Mucking around with mama in our coats.

The night before we moved into our new home.

Hanging out in our porch, with my new mobile.

Rasta rad!

The night I slept from 4pm all the way to 5am the next morning!

Mama did say every journey begins with a single step...

Snuggling up with Tommy in the morning, waiting for breakfast.

At Bales Park, train tunnel.

Chilling out with George, my Brachiosaurus.

At the ball pen, Softplay Westfield

Chasing Lucas - never easy!

Mama thinks she knows where I store all my banana cake...

Just another day with KJ!

At Lucas' first birthday rave, I was down with my first vaccinations... quite sobby!

Our first aquarium date.

Dinner time with my doggies.

Coffee kisses and cosy cuddles with KJ (our mums were watching, so it's legit!)

What mama baked at home... Yum!

As you can see, I am very busy...

leave my man for a moment and he has already another girl swooping in!

Bersih 3.0 Duduk Bantah Sydney

I hardly consider myself a strong advocate of civil matters. I do have the passion that burns for a better future for the environment, the children, education, and public amenities but I wouldn't go as far as calling myself an activist.

That term brings a strong wave of power, responsibility and awareness. It demands knowledge, humility and the desire to stand in the pouring rain of antagonism in the sole belief of what you think is the right thing to fight and stand for.

But once in a while, when you ponder upon the fact that if a child cannot be guaranteed of its right to free speech and clean elections, then that child is never too young to speak up. Representation comes with the confidence in your own entitlement as the citizen of a civic society, of a nation that professes the elements of righteousness and justice.

I learned a little bit of what it meant to sing an anthem of a country that I have come to embrace, I teared singing the anthem of tanah airku and to see that you need not be of the same to break through creed, colour, gender, age, and political leanings to support something that soars above these descriptions.

And with so much more to learn after we walked back from the event, I realised for the first time, it felt really good to stand up for something and exclude the political demonising aside.

God bless Australia, and God bless the brave people of Malaysia. This is jihad in every sense and this is the hour when a new nation is born.

Readers Beware!

Life consists of many steps towards the right direction interspersed by missteps that probably got us nursing a defeated will to fight for the truth in everything. Sometimes, truth may be harder than languishing in the comfort of lies. Indeed, much more trying and scary.

Is that the reason that I see the sad faces of denial? I am no saint but by God, I do try to live my truth. It is hardly a bed of roses, or for that matter, the thorns are nonetheless less painful than the caress of reality's cold, harsh hands on your face when your ignorance is slapped out of your foggy mind. It perplexed me to contemplate the logic behind many a face I have come to recognise as acquaintances that masquerade as your friends. But then my most loved and dearest of families and friends caution me to put common sense on something that is purely tyrannical and sick.

Seeing someone who is so befuddled in their own maze of confusion yet bemoaning the debt that the world owes them is akin to watching a bad movie in slow motion. You squirm in your seat for it to finish quickly, you try to even convince yourself to get with it to perhaps soften the impact of boredom, bewildered acceptance of your own lowering of your value system to accommodate such irrational behaviour. Survival does drive us to operate outside of our beliefs framework.

The flip side is actually learning from it. Recognising that you do not want to be part of it. Putting a stop to it. Cutting the evil cord. Turning away from the sharp, judgemental pointing finger. For it is never too late to look at yourself in the mirror and ask if this is seriously something you can honestly go to your grave and be happy with your conduct.

I am blessed with many wonderful souls that care about me. I am touched by so many that I have met that guided me to higher awareness.

If that someone cannot understand and spits at you, then trust that your circle of protection formed by the love and care of those who truly matter to you, will envelope you in the light of good and strong.

And to those who choose to draw the knife too close to heart... remember this:

You play with fire, you get burnt;

You play with knives, you get cut;

You play with your own truth, you die before your time is up.

Bye Bye Summer!

Nothing brings to the fore of my mind that summer this year has indeed come and gone than to look at the calendar, realise that I have been too busy to pay attention to the fact that February's days have bade farewell to us.

We got down to Balmoral Beach to soak in the last burst of sunshine that had arrived after a horrendous week of legendary rain. Technically March signals the arrival of autumn, the shops are stocking the boots, the scarves and jackets. Yet the day was warm and inviting. I loved that my little daughter was enjoying her first adventurous wander by the beach, tasting sand and splashing up her inquisitiveness of this big world laying ahead of her.

She'll probably see a lot more summers to come, and I certainly hope so far more and fulfilling than mine. After all, isn't that what parents wish for their little ones? That a future lived to supersede theirs?

Myla marks today a full nine months since arriving into the world in a little bundle. Somehow I don't know why I am feeling a tad melancholy.

I wish you a wonderful summer and may you always find that summer in you throughout all the seasons.

First Summer On The Swing

Check out the stunt and I look cuter than Ethan Hunt!

Track by Moby, from the Mission Impossible Theme

The muggy weather didn't stop us from exploring the parks by Balmoral. Poor mama had to carry me in her Kathmandu afterwards to climb up all 420m of the incline while I drooled off to sleep in comfort. It was just too much fun playing with Isla in the sun, breeze, and salty smell of the air.

Life certainly is beautiful when you like this mode!

My Birth Friend, Venice Kirk

 Both girls are born in the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney within one hour apart.

Myla received her first gift from Venice, white cotton mittens, which saved her

from scratching her own face and making herself looked like

she had been to a backyard fight! 

 Both girls having a good yarn and a laugh!

"Come, let me see if those teeth are coming out!" 

First duet!

Images courtesy of Florence Kirk

My Best Shots of 2011

The biggest thing in 2011 that I discovered about myself from a photography's point of view, is the fact that, I had actually based a lot of my shots outside the faculty of my digital SLR. Not entirely due to necessity but more of circumstances.

Of course the most phenomenal force of change that hit me in the last eight months has been the birth of my first child. It rewrote a lot of the rules on "how I have always done things" and to a certain extent, my entire life. That coffee table book project that I had meant to produce post-travels, the books that I was meant to read in one seating, more time for myself - all got happily thrown (of course I could say this now since recovering some part of my sleep debt!) back to the second row. But life was never meant to be a spectator sport, not at least from the way I like to continue running my life. So we - mother and child - forged ahead, wrote our own rules, winged it together, danced to each other's rhythm, discovered about possibilities and broke down all limitations that were heaped upon us.

My best shots this time covered a more emotional and personal touch to things. I did on purpose, not reach into the plethora of choices of the many beautiful portraitures made possible by the amazing people that I had met during our stint on the dusty road, simply because I want to honour them in a separate project. These shots were to me, my "best" shots for the huge part of last year because they spoke volumes of the tenacity and determination that my daughter had instilled in me to continue shooting and exploring new frontiers and grow as a photographer.

In short, to not let a passion paused for too long but to soldier on even if it means we will catch a later train due to new challenges and the only limitation we face - time.

I hope you enjoy these selected shots that I had done from the beautiful country of New Zealand, and God bless you Kiwis for the memories.

 The Maorian Jesus, yes!

 My special moment - all that time waiting for the "human mud face" shot...

Our first Christmas by the waters. 

A reminder that we were leaving the land of chill and back into the rush, the madness!