Marching into April?! LOL

Sorry again for not blogging in March! It was a big month though for me personally and for my BFF. We both celebrated birthdays!!! Gotta love a good birthday - especially cake. I love cake! I seriously think it's the only time you can have double cake and not feel bad!

Anyways I sadly don't have any pictures of the cake my friend made at work. It was a red velvet cake and had about 4 layers with cream cheese cream in between was so tasty! Not to mention it looked divine! Took some photos but using Instagram - sadly my phone has been pretty influential lately and the Leica camera has been getting a little less action. Instagram is seriously addictive especially how easy it is to just put on vintage filters etc.

Here's a pic from the Leica however taken at around 7am in the morning before work. Beautiful sight to wake up to on my 25th birthday! Quarter life crises here i come! Just gorgeous!

25th Birthday Quarter Life Crises - scenes from the morning of my birthday. Definitely made me smile :)

Of course I went out to eat for my birthday. A quiet dinner for two at a place that another foodie friend from work suggested. La Luna Bistro in Carlton (aka the meat place as someone referred to it) is a nice little relaxed dining setting where I had a lovely pasta and indulged in a chocolate pudding that had a gooey centre which made me melt into a pool of happiness lol!

Good prices, good food, good service. Recommend if you are looking for that relaxed bistro sort of dinner out!

Anyways some shots from La Luna - Leica struggled a bit with all the textured patterns I think it was in some face recognition mode and it was seriously getting confused but got some decent shots I think.

La Luna Bistro - love the painting on the wall (actually on the wall not a picture hanging on the wall) in the hallway framed by the door

Nice dramatic shot black and white really suits business. Interesting angle photographing the top of someones' hair/head haha!

oooie gooie goodness: chocolate pudding all finished up!

FebruApril (where has the time gone?!)

I cannot believe where the time as gone!!! I set out to blog every month and now well it's April and my last four blogs were made in January!!! LOL what can I say - it's been a very busy start to the year! So here's my attempt to cover February (so so late now lol)...

February highlight: Valentines Day spoilt with some beautiful roses which made me smile from the BFF!

I'm such a sucker for fresh cut flowers! Love all types of flowers to be honest such a gift to have something from nature in your house or on your desk at work. Reminds you about the simple beauty and fragility of life. If you are ever feeling down buy some flowers or send flowers.

I had this thought the other day about men and how important having a good tailor is, barber/hairdresser, signature cologne etc. and I honestly thought as I looked at yet another bunch of fresh cut flowers given to me from the BFF how important having a go to reliable florist near that you can easily get to on your way home from work is for a man. I might be a hopeless romantic but I'd like to think that there a men out there that take sending flowers seriously and not just for their partners but for family and friends. Men who have a reasonable knowledge of flowers and at least know where to track down a bunch from a good florist get big thumbs up from me. I love people watching and seeing men carrying huge bouquets - I always wonder who the lucky person will be and what a smile it will bring :)

Rainbow of Macarons: Still loving these cuties. I shall blog seperately about a great little pre mix that Donna Hay has created.

 These macarons featured front and centre at a Thomax Dux Grocer on Bridge Road in Melbourne. If you have never been and you are foodie you will love this grocery store. I first came across Thomas Dux in 2010 when I was sent on a work trip to check out a whole variety of different food and grocery stores. Thomax Dux is up market, trendy and meant to give you that it's not a chain supermarket feel. They do alright but be warned you can spend a lot of money in there very quickly!

The Shrine on a fine warm day - Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

One of favourite things to do (aside from eating and shopping) is to organise little picnics. My picnicing location of choice is  the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. it's just beautiful and big and calm. I love to be calm and feel the sun on my skin and soak up all the good natural vitamin D. So much more fun that taking supplements to be honest. My BFF's mum bought us a cute little picnic rug which is perfect for stretching out on and trips to Thomax Dux making packing a picnic so simple. I will certainly miss the warmer weather which is so inviting for such wanderings into the outdoors. The cold just makes me want to stay inside with a cup of tea and good book.

Happy Lunar New Year - Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

It's the year of the lucky dragon! Let's hope it really is a lucky year because don't we all need a bit of luck?!

Photos from last weekend's Victoria St Vietnamese Community Lunar New Year Celebrations (aka Tet).

Had such a blast - so much food haha.

Hai Loc - fortunes for the year

Lion Dancing - great tradition

Can't believe they do this all day haha

Just on and on up and down the street ...

First time I asked to take a stranger's photo. This kid was way too cute in traditional dress ;)

Cave man! haha

I shall be brief - photos from the Naracoorte Limestone Caves.

Mirror pool - pretty spooky but cool!

Love that Leica black and white!

Just looks like honey dripping from the ceiling (nom nom)

Road Trip!

So my bf (bff) and I decided to head on a road trip adventure starting in Adelaide which took us along South Australia's Coorong area - the Limestone Coast, to Mt Gambier and then along the Great Ocean Road before heading back to Melbourne.

We stayed at some amazing accommodation. Highlight was seeing the Naracoorte limestone caves which I haven't seen again since a child. The Blue Lake in Mt Gambier was pretty cool and so to was the local meat (nom nom). More on that in another blog post but for now just some photos from the drive - really dry rough country. Had a great time - so much sun!!!

Henley Beach - South Australia

Sunny along the Coorong in South Australia

The Coorong - South Australia

Off Road

Fields of salt: the result of removing native vegetation from the land

Fish shop near the Jetty in Kingston SA

All about the seafood

Happy New Year!!!

ADL 2012: Adelaide 2012 got it in the first take on NYE. Using sparklers and shutter priority mode on Leica set to 2 seconds taken by my wonderful bf (haha bff lol)

In 2011, I started blogging when I moved to Melbourne. Okay so a little lazy towards the end and didn't get as many blog posts up as I would have liked but I had so much fun in the process. 2011 was great! It had it's challenges of course but hey I had fun most of the time!

In 2012 there are a few more goals I'd like to set for myself.

Keep Blogging!
One being to continue to blog at least two posts per month. My Lecia D Lux 5 will still be the primary camera for the shots included in this blog but think I might make a real effort to include some shots taken with a bigger camera (Pentax K7).

I'll admit I'm lazy when it comes to slugging around a huge DSLR but will try harder to make the use of other cameras that I have access to.

Fitness
I'd like to be fitter in 2012. I really slacked off on the exercising this year - so here's to more discipline and motivation!!! I really don't have any more excuses for sitting around and doing nothing!

Budget $
In 2012 I want to cut back on impulse purchases and really focus on saving for big(ger) ticket items like trips away, furniture for the apartment and making sure I stay on top of all my finances - really get smart about superannuation etc...

Collecting Family Recipes
I started this project in 2011 but really want to commit to collecting classic recipes that I take for granted from my mum, dad and aunties! Get it all together and work on pulling at least a PDF collection of recipes to share with interested parties.

Just a few that I've thought of thus far. I will keep thinking about it all :)

Lonely Heart! Love this photo so much fun!

XOX: Kids were so much fun to hang out with! They really reminded me to remember to have fun and play.

NYE 2012: Achieved using mobile phone screens set to different colours. Again shutter mode on Leica set to 2 seconds.

Stick People: how fast can you draw a stick figure? About 2 seconds lol

Vietnam

Hustle bustle of the streets  in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) South of Vietnam

Vietnam! Can't say I'm well travelled but I really do believe that there isn't anything else quite like Vietnam in the world! The thing that hits you is the traffic. People commuting and transporting all sorts of things on their scooters...it's amazing how well the traffic flows even though there seems to be no road rules.

This was my third trip back to Vietnam - the first in 2005, the second at the end of 2010 and most recently in November 2011. Sadly this recent trip was to accompany my mum to my grandmother's funeral. I can't say i was close to her all that much but it always hurts to see your family in pain. After all family is everything in the Vietnamese culture - if you were to even entertain the thought of taking for granted your family - you would surely hear no end to how you an ungrateful being.

I love this photo...drinks on offer on the wall, the bicycle the scooter - so Vietnam!

I've grown to like Vietnam more and more as a country and come to realise the significance of this place for my parents especially. A lot of people love the tourist scene that Vietnam offers - but for me what I admire the most about this place is the absolute resilience that these people show. Despite the devastation that war imposed on this beautiful country, these people don't show any of the expected and certainly entitled emotions of such a horrific history. They don't feel entitled like so many of us do in the Western world - where we are honestly spoilt with comfort and stability. Vietnamese people really work hard, they don't have any resentment for the war that created so much suffering - they just get on with life and creating a better future for their kids.

A temple near Thu Duc a province in the South where my mum's family is from.

It's each generations wish for the next - simply put a brighter and better future. That same thinking is evidently alive for the refugees who fled Vietnam to places like Australia. My parent's generation worked hard to pay for a good education so that we could build a better future for ourselves and our families. I guess the same can be said for refugees of the Vietnam war. Their mentality is there is no time for resentment because that time is better used to build and support the next generation and their future.

This photo was taken from the 3 floor balcony of my grandmother's house in Cho Lon where my Dad's family is from.

Might explain why Vietnamese parent's have high expectations of their children. Because they have put their all into raising the next generation. I can only hope in some why that through the path I have chosen in life that I am able to give my parent's some sense that they have succeeded. Because when I think about the loss their suffered and the dreams that they might have had as youths themselves - I feel deeply saddened that they weren't able to fulfil some of their dreams - maybe to be a well educated professional with a world of opportunity.

Rain, rain, rain ...

It's difficult to describe Vietnam. It's a beautiful place. Slightly tortured by its past but always focused on moving forward. It is a place where the poor are very poor. You can see it all around you everyone is just trying to make some money and working really hard.

Taken from our hotel balcony in Thu Duc - a patchwork of housing and development.

The people are resourceful. They make what they can, grow what they can, sell what they can just to make ends meet. It's hard for me to talk it up per say. To say it was an awesome holiday...I just see Vietnam like that. Not with the links that I have to the language, the culture, the people. I just can't hide away in the tourist villas by the coast and be pampered and ignorant to the poverty.

I was so lucky to get this shot - just by chance i was standing on the road side when they came past. So not your cardboard carton of a dozen from the supermarket!

Despite my sadness for these people...I know that they don't want me to pity them. I love striking up conversation with complete strangers on the side of the street. They always love talking! They love to know if what you do for a living, where you are from and the most commonly asked question - are you married yet? They don't really get the concept that in Australia people do wait to get married!

I love the people the most! Cheery and full of stories to tell!

Just love this photos! Nothing says tropical like bananas!