"I'm Cool!"

Location: Kuala Lumpur

When: Mark & Azwin’s wedding day

Note: This is Azwin’s family pet. Beautiful, isn’t he?

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… 2009…

This is the year I became a mother. And my life started to change beyond what I could have imagined or anticipated. It was God’s grace for giving us our little girl. She’s such a joy to me when I’m down, albeit sometimes a little annoying when she throws her tantrum. Our Little Haley has been a handful and I’m really thankful that my own mother is still young & capable enough to help care for my little girl when I had to return to work. Darling Francis has been a wonderful daddy and husband, ever supportive & patience when it comes to dealing with the various situations in our little chaotic life. I am ever so thankful cos I just wouldn’t know how I’d manage without him!

These are just a few of the changes (ones I’ve felt the impact most) since Haley’s arrival into our life.

• The house is a lot merrier (and did I mention chaotic too? ) with her coos & aahs, her laughter & screams, and very recently her endless baby chatters.
• In contrast, our social life has gotten a lot quieter. Darling & I are very sociable people, especially amongst our scuba diving society. Not that we do not like to socialize anymore. It’s just that our priorities have changed. We used to host various get-together with our friends and family but not anymore. We also seem to turn down friends’ invitations to hang-out pretty often nowadays.
  • First is SLEEP. As most parents will agree with me, having a new baby in the house means less sleep for everyone else. So, we find ourselves pretty tired by midnight and the bed seems all too inviting all the time!
  • Second is WORK. Family time is really rare considering that darling leaves the house early in the morning & only comes back after 8pm generally 5 days a week, where as my working schedule often falls on weekends and public holidays.
  • Third is FAMILY. We try to spend as much time together as a family when we’re not working. Which means, the whole evening will be spent in the bedroom with Haley for her bedtime. We also try to have at least 3 to 4 times family holiday a year, away from home.
• Darling & I go on a date (mostly on movie dates) a lot more often nowadays. Once again, we’re lucky to have my mum around to babysit at nites when we are going on a date. Initially, it was hard for me to concentrate during our dates as my mind & heart will be back at home with Haley, but eventually I got used to it. I now look forward to our future dates all the time!
• We’ve been getting home-cooked meals almost everyday. Bless my mother for that! She’s been staying with us more often nowadays (due to me having more photography bookings lately) to help out with Haley, hence, she also does the cooking and laundry for us! Yes! I am indeed lucky!

I started losing weight immediately after delivery and an annual full-body check-up revealed a hyperthyroidism in me. I find myself having  rapid heart palpitation constantly, resulting in insomnia & a constant rise in body temperature. I also had a massive increase of appetite  altho I kept losing weight. Due to the possible unwanted effect on my heart, I was put on a series of medications which resulted in a sudden (unwanted) weight gain! Oh those terrible fats!!! It is sooo demoralizing so I gotta do something bout that soon!

This is also the year when I decided to re-brand my photography business. I would like to thank my friend & mentor, Jenny Sun, for opening my mind & heart when it comes to building my new photography business. I was struggling really hard to find my own identity and to gain clientele but she was always there (albeit her super busy schedule), always willing to share her thoughts and advice, always lending an ear to my never ending rantings. Thank you, girl, for your friendship & trust in me! I owe you one! And I’m looking forward to more shooting & sharing moments with you.

Here are some of the photos I shot when I was assisting Jenny during her wedding assignments. Thank you for the opportunities, Jen!

Ju Liang & Mui Kit's Wedding Day

Ju Liang & his mother

The pretty Mui Kit

Ju Liang & Mui Kit

Tjin & Christine's Wedding Day

Tjin & buddies with their cars

Christine's wedding dress

Tjin & Christine, the happy newlyweds

Hanther & Christine Wedding Day

Hanther & Christine - Blissfully married

… 2010…

So another new year is coming! Only God knows what is planned out for me and all I can do is plan, execute, hope and pray for a smooth sailing journey throughout this new year.

Here’s a list of my new year resolution:

1. Lose 8kg by May 2010 by eating healthier (less carbo, less ice cream, less cakes), plan & follow an exercise regime and drink more water daily!
2. Be a better mother, wife & daughter. Being more patience with Haley & teach her new things as day passes by, spend more time listening & doing things for darling, and give my mother more time of her own.
3. Be a better photographer. Continue learning to improve my skills, as well as increase my editing capabilities in order to deliver my clients’ photos as early possible!
4. Keep in touch more with our dearest friends whom we’ve somehow been neglecting lately.
5. Go to church more often with Haley & mum (and hopefully darling will join us one day ). I’m not too sure how I can do this as most of my weekends have been booked up by clients unless I make it a point to not accept too many bookings on Sundays. God will somehow show me the way soon.
6. Travel and/or dive more. Well… if $ and time permits, of course!
7. Attend a photography workshop or two locally. Definitely looking forward to ShootFest (if any for 2010).
8. Contribute more towards environment conservation. Plant more greens, promote underwater awareness through my underwater photos, etc.

Alrite… that’s all that I can think of at the moment. Let’s see how much of my new year resolution comes true but I hope majority will. Here’s wishing you, my clients, my friends and family a promising New Year 2010! My heartfelt gratitude for the wonderful journey we’ve done together this 2009!

Little Aidan & Family

Little Tiffany & Family

Little Kiera & Family

Little Ethan & Family

Little Aden & Family

Little Gabrielle & Family

Little Shuen & Family

Little Mikhail & Family

Little Hayden & Family

Little Tanveer & Family

Little Venus & Family

Little Sophia & Family

Sherlyn Koh & her dance academy

Jeremy & Jane

Albert & Faye

Amin & Shareen + Family

Pauline & Furry Friends

Mark + Azween

The Nichols

Little Azura & Family

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.”  ~ Hal Borland

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]]> http://astherlau.com/2009/12/31/one-for-the-road-before-2010/feed/ 0 http://astherlau.com/2009/01/20/pet-a-licious-the-jongs/ http://astherlau.com/2009/01/20/pet-a-licious-the-jongs/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:32:21 +0000 Asther http://astherlauphotography.wordpress.com/?p=793 This came in yesterday in my INBOX and I felt sooooo good after reading it. Thank you, Aveline & family!

Hey Hey

 

Just an update…

 

So far no problems receiving the files. Still very excited everyday, everyhour pressing refresh on my mac to see if there’s new mail in my inbox. hahahahah

 

Showed 2 of my friends, bro & fiancé & most importantly  my MUM coz this is a gift from me to her.

heheheheh EVERYONE. Let me repeat, EVERYONE loves the pictures & what u’ve done with it!! All those editing are great…. but got a few things that i might need u to help me get rid off lah…. such as the fly on louie’s head. The sleep on zara & coco’s eyes.

ahhahahahah

 

I must say i am really glad i choose u to take the pics. If anyone wanna do any photo shoot, i’ll surely recommend u ok!! Maybe next time i’ll get u to do more of my pets. hahahhahah coz i might be having a litter of daschund coming my way…. dono yet… but hoping lah… hehehhe

 

Hope everything is well with u. Take care of urself & baby….

Presenting my fantastic-ally fun models!

Zara: We got so attached to each other after the photo session. The most playful one.

CoCo: The second, bigger Dachshund.

Louis: The only male Dachshund

Sean: The friendliest of the bunch

Isaac: The oldest one & a little grumpy

Osama: Doesn't he look like a Chinese Lion?

Buttons: The crazy one

Cookie (top) & Heng Heng (bottom)

Zelda: The ferocious one

Baby: The Gentle One

Kat

Kit

Goldie: I took the priviledge in naming this ariwana

and finally the family's coi collection. Ain't they pretty & fat?

I’m so glad I did this session even though I was down with a terrible flu [the day before] which had me spending most of Boxing Day in bed.

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